Bonded
by sarge2.0
Summary: six year old harry is beaten and abused by the dursleys and left for dead, he is saved by Molly Weasley and ginny while recovering he bonds with ginny soul bond fic. ooc powerful harry, dumbles ron bashing. eventually h/hr/g on hiatus
1. Wow sucks to be me

disclaimer: i do not own any of the characters situations or other information in this story, harry potter and all associatted items are the property of J..

summary: six year old harry is badly hurt by the dursleys leaving him near dead. he is rescued by molly weasley and ginny. when recovering he and ginny bond. soul bond fic

The sun had risen on a clear day in Little Winging, Surrey and a little boy was lying still in his cupboard. His emerald green eyes were closed, one however was closed, not because he was not conscious, but because it was swollen closed by a brutal punch an hour earlier courtesy of his uncle. His jet black hair was matted with dried blood from many cuts on his scalp over his lightning bolt shaped scar and his left arm had one too many bends in it. If a person who was not familiar with the boys injuries where to describe him they may have been forgiven for believing that his skin colour was black with blue splotches. Unfortunately this tended to be accurate most of the time as his uncle saw to it that it remained that way.

This young boy of six years and ten months had been awakened some one and a half hours previously by his aunt ordering him to get up and make breakfast. Less than half an hour later his uncle who burnt his tongue on a gulp of hot coffee then proceeded to pound the child repeatedly for half an hour leaving him unconscious with a broken left arm and bruises to 80% of his body. He left the right arm unbroken so the boy could do his chores.

This boy's name was Harry Potter.

He had lived with his aunt and uncle for nearly six years having been left on their doorstep when he was barely more than a year old and this sort of treatment had started in a more mild form from day one. At that point the injuries healed within a day.

Several hours later harry woke and took stock of where he was and what shape he was in. The answers where: in his cupboard and bad. Never the less he got unsteadily to his feet and heard the clatter of his glasses falling from the bed onto the floor. Picking them up, he timidly put them on, left his cupboard and headed for the kitchen.

"About time you got your lazy backside moving boy!" shouted his uncle Vernon from his place in front of the telly. "It's nearly lunch time and you need to get the garden fixed and the car washed!"

Harry didn't bother to point out that it was thanks to his uncle knocking him out cold for several hours that he was not able to have finished his chores already. Such a comment would probably get him more of the same as well as no meals for another few days. Harry had by necessity become used to surviving on very little food and water, sometimes needing to survive on a piece of bread and a litre of water for three days. So instead of arguing he simply walked into the kitchen and set to making the three Dursleys, his aunt Petunia, uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley several toasted sandwiches each before heading out to the front yard cradling his broken arm to tend the garden. For hours he (quite literally) single handedly weeded, manured and watered the various bushes and flowering plants and mowed the lawn.

He was in the process of repairing the garden wall when trouble arrived in the gargantuan form of his cousin. At Dudley's recent seventh birthday he had been given a BMX bike to play with along with his three friends (or some might say cronies). Despite Dudley's hatred of exercise in any way shape or form with the exception of hitting people, the novelty of the bike had not worn off and so the gang of four spent many an hour riding around the neighbourhood terrorising children and hanging out in local parks. Fortunately for harry this time the Colossus was devoid of his gang and was heading home alone.

"All right Freak?" Dudley yelled as he rode past behind his uncle's Mercedes company car and swung around back to face Harry.

"_Just ignore him" _thought Harry, _"it'll be worse if you say anything."_

"You know what?" he continued with a sneer, "you don't need to be standing to repair that wall you can do it from the ground," and with that he accelerated towards Harry achieving an impressive speed for one with such bulk as him.

Harry was looking out the corner of his eye panicked when he say Dudley bearing down on him. Diving over the wall in desperation he heard a crack as his cousin sped past and felt a knife like pain in his arm upon landing on the other side of the wall. His cry of pain was joined by an equally loud shriek from Dudley as he found himself suddenly airborne and heading to the back of his uncles car, his bike collapsing onto its side in the space that Harry had previously been working.

Dudley met the car with his shoulder and neither was too pleased with the meeting. A bang and a crack followed by another shriek, this time in pain, before a final thud rang out. Dudley had slammed into the car breaking his collar bone and denting the panelling before collapsing in a heap on the ground and immediately began crying.

Harry got to his feet unsteadily, his ankle badly sprained and fear flooding through him. Inexplicable occurrences such as this always brought the worst punishments and with Dudley getting hurt as well as damaging the car would make this very bad for him. There was no point trying to tell his aunt and uncle that he hadn't done anything, they never believed him and blamed him for everything that went wrong in their lives. Even if Harry was in a different house, had never seen the object or even in some cases where blaming him was physically impossible, he would always bear the brunt of us uncles aggression as well as his cousin on most occasions.

His aunt and uncle came barrelling out of the front door to see what had caused their Dinky Duddydums to cry. First point of call for his aunt on seeing Dudley crying in pain next to a dent in the car was to rush forward and try to soothe him. First point of call for his uncle was Harry, limping towards the house.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DID YOU DO TO MY SON FREAK?" Vernon thundered as he advanced on Harry.

"N-n-nothing s-sir," said Harry looking terrified as his sumo sized uncle strode across the lawn toward him.

"_God I'm in for it now," _though Harry. _"not only did I get Dudley hurt I did my freaky stuff and damaged the car."_

"BULL! YOU HURT MY LITTLE HARMLESS DUDLEY WITH YOURE FREAKY NONSENSE AND YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT AND THE CAR!" bellowed his uncle raising his fist.

"_Oh hell!" _Harry thought cowering.

Vernon's fist flashed out and Harry knew no more.

Harry woke with a familiar vibration at his back and muffled voices coming from somewhere on his left. He was face down on a carpet somewhere. It was dark, but his glasses where still on and he knew that this was definitely not his cupboard. He moaned, rolled over and started checking himself all over to try to see what other injuries he had received while unconscious. To his great surprise he found none, only the bruise on the side of his face where he had been knocked out. With this surprising news he began to try to figure out where he was. The vibrations where a definite clue and now he focussed he could hear the sound of an engine. He was in the boot of his uncle's car and they were travelling somewhere.

He wandered what would happen next, his uncle had never let him off with just one hit before.

"_Maybe he would be getting dropped off at an orphanage" _he thought hopefully._ "That would be good, they might treat him better and he might get to eat a bit more."_

So for several hours he amused himself with daydreams of being in an orphanage away from Dudley and all his friends and being allowed to not do as many chores and eating more. Eventually he was shaken from these daydreams by the sound of the car changing from driving on bitumen to dirt.

"_Where on earth are we going?" _he thought.

Then there was a sensation of slowing to a stop and the engine cut off. He heard his aunts muffled voice but he couldn't make out the words. Three doors opened and shut and there was the crunch of shoes on the rocks and gravel that made up the road. A click and bright sunlight poured in.

"out you get," he heard his uncles voice say.

Painfully Harry crawled out and gingerly placed some of his weight on his sprained ankle. It hurt but he could at least stand and maybe walk.

"Come on boy we don't have all day!" barked his uncle. Once he was out Petunia snapped "Get walking!" while pointing off over the hills he could see after the end of the road. As Harry limped around the car he looked around wandering where he was. He certainly wasn't in the city anymore. He saw his aunt carrying a rectangular leather holder that looked like some things he had seen that people carry barbeque implements in.

"_Are we going camping? They never take me camping!" _he thought surprised. Still looking around he felt a sort of internal nudge towards what looked like an orchard. About three quarters of a mile away. There was also a tingling and a sense that he needed to go that way. That something important was just over the hill the orchard was situated on. Walking toward the orchard his uncle grabbed him.

"Not that way you idiot!" he snapped, pulling Harry away at a right angle to where he was walking. Grudgingly he walked in the direction that Vernon indicated, with Vernon Petunia and Dudley following but the tingling feeling did not go away if anything it got stronger. After several minutes of walking they came across a fast flowing stream. It was several meters wide and almost a meter deep.

"Stop here," said uncle Vernon. Harry turned around to see what was going on but Petunia snapped at him so he turned to look at the stream. It was quite beautiful, with clear blue water running over the rocks.

The tingling feeling he had been having ever since he arrived peaked and he instinctively looked toward where the feeling was pulling him. At a distance he saw two people a plump woman in faded robes with bright red hair and a tiny girl in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt also with bright red hair, where walking towards them. Harry could see from the place that they were and where the Dursleys were last they could only be seen by Harry. He knew instantly that these where the people that the feeling was pulling him towards. He was about to raise his hand to wave when something glinted out of the corner of his eye.


	2. Fallen saviour

Ginny breathed in deeply as she stood in the kitchen at the Burrow, smelling the cookies her mother was making.

"Would you like to taste to see if the cookies are done dear?" her mother asked beaming at her.

"Yes, Yes, Yes!" Ginny cried, bouncing up and down in her excitement. She loved flying but her brothers would never take her, so she settled for the next best thing: her mum's cookies. Ideally she would love to have both but it's hard to catch a quaffleand eat at the same time. _Something to try next time I sneak out,_ Ginny thought with a giggle.

"Your brothers are out flying aren't they?" her mum asked glancing round the kitchen.

"yeah, how did you know?" she asked. The twins Ron Charlie and Bill had all left a couple of hours ago and she was sure her mum didn't see them leave.

"Ron's hasn't gotten any food or came in since I started these and there haven't been any explosions from Fred and George either," mum smiled at her.

"Oh that's a good way to tell," Ginny said giggling again. "Ron not eating and the twins not making noise."

"Yep," Molly grinned down at her daughter. "The best way to know where a man is, is to know what he does. How do you think I always know when your dad is out tinkering with all that muggle rubbish?"

"That's how? Dad has been wandering that _forever," _gasped Ginny. _All the boys want to know how mum knows where they are all the time, this is great! Maybe they'll let me fly if I tell them. _

Smiling she helped with the cookies in her favourite way, tasting one to make sure it was done, then another to make sure and then another just in case those where twins...

_What's that? _She wandered. A strange tingling had come over her accompanied by an urge, a weird urge to go somewhere out towards the orchard where the boys played quidditch. She often got the urge to join them and fly but this was different, like something was pulling her. She gasped as an ache suddenly appeared in her left arm and she looked around to see where it had come from. There was no-one in the room except her mother and herself.

"What's wrong dear? Where they too hot?" her mum asked concerned. Then she saw her clutching her arm. "what happened?"

"I don't know," Ginny said. "There was just a tingling sensation and it was like something was pulling me toward the orchard and I felt this ache in my arm, like when I broke it last summer but it's a lot less painful"

"A tingling and a strange pull?" Molly asked confused. "Is the pull like something's pulling on you?"

"No it's like something pulling inside me," she replied. _What's going on? _ She thought.

"I've felt something like that before," her mother said surprised. "Sometimes if there is something that you really need to do or somewhere you need to be your magic responds and tries to get you there. I felt it once when Bill was little, he climbed the tree out in the yard and fell out from the top branch. I got there in time to stop him hitting the ground too hard, as it was, he only broke his wrist." She shuddered at the thought of what would have happened if she hadn't felt that pull.

"so I should follow it?" asked Ginny. "What could it be?"

"I don't know," her mum replied worriedly. "But we should follow it we'll both go now."

Molly grabbed her wand and followed Ginny out the house toward the orchard. They moved at a fast walk, not running but not moving slowly either. Ginny felt another ache start up in her right ankle and she had to slow down.

"Whats wrong?" her mum asked concerned.

"I've got another ache in my ankle, its not as bad as the one in my arm and the pull is getting stronger," said Ginny. She tried not to let the pain show in her voice.

"It's moving mum," Ginny said. "The pull is moving, heading that way." She pointed toward the stream that flowed past the Weasley property. They sometimes swam in it and the children had all learnt to swim in the clear waters. They heard the distant voices of the boys as they played in the orchard to their side and as they crested the hill they saw a group of people walking toward the stream. Behind the group about two hundred yards was a fancy, new-looking muggle car. There were four people in the group, two adults and two children. The man was obviously very overweight and blond and next to him walked a thin woman carrying a small item she couldn't see at this distance. There was a large boy who seemed to be a mirror image of the man and the three of them where moving together about ten yards behind the other boy.

This other boy as limping badly as he made his way toward the stream. He was also cradling his arm like it was broken and seemed to be looking around. He was very different from the others, with matted jet black hair, small and very skinny. His clothes too where different, the other three were wearing neat clean well fitted clothes and from what little she knew about muggle clothing they looked new. The clothes the small boy seemed to be wearing were badly fitted, ripped and dirty. His face seemed to be dark.

"Something's wrong mum," said Ginny anxiously. "I don't like this. Look at the boy in front, he's hurt and they're moving away from their car. Shouldn't they be getting help?"

"I know dear lets get closer," her mother replied. She could tell something was wrong as well. She kept her hand in the pocket of her robes, wrapped around the handle of her wand. The boy stopped by the stream and turned to his companions. They heard a voice say something sharply and the boy turned back to the stream.

Getting closer Ginny felt the pull peak.

"Mum it's him," she said. "Pull is to him."

"I wander why," her mum said tensely "What are the others doing?"

There was a hedge between the two weasleys and the other three people in the group blocking everyone but the injured boy. They moved toward the boy and watched as the boy turned to look at them, raising a hand as if to wave.

Suddenly he snapped his head around and a look of shock and fear flitted across his face asthe same emotions raced through Ginny.

"NO!" he screamed. There was a glint of metal as the large man lunged forward and the boy let out a terrible scream. At there was a splash of blood and Ginny felt a stabbing pain in her chest crying out and doubling over.

"NO!" Molly echoed drawing her wand as the man pulled the boy he'd stabbed behind the hedge.

"REDUCTO!" Molly shouted and a jet of red light shot from her wand blowing the hedge apart.

There were more screams from the boy and pleading as the scene was revealed past the recently destroyed hedge. The three other people where stabbing the boy repeatedly, Molly watching in horror as the round boy plunged an eight inch knife into the boys shoulder going down the length of his body into his chest.

"IMPEDIMENTIA!" Molly screamed. The silver jet slammed the large man back, his hand flying out and clothes-lined the woman as he flew backwards into a tree. "IMPEDIMENTIA!" she screamed again and the large boy was blasted backwards and landed in a heap.

"Oh merlin no," Molly breathed as she raced toward the boy. "Incarcerous!" she cried and ropes bound the three muggles while she crouched over the injured boy.

"Please," the boy whispered. He coughed blood. "Please help me."

"I will, its all right," she soothed him. He was so _small, _with brilliant emerald eyes. "Ginny!" she cried, looking for her daughter. Ginny was staggering forward, doubled up in pain, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"He's hurt mum," she cried. "I can feel it, when they hurt him I felt it!"

_That explains the ankle and arm. _Ginny thought wildly. Something on the boys forehead caught her eye. A scar shaped like a bolt of lightning.

_No way._ She thought shocked.

"Mum!" she cried "Look on his forehead!"

"Harry Potter!" Molly gasped.

"Mum!" yelled another four voices. She looked around pulling Harry into her arms as she stood up. Bill Charlie and the twins where racing toward her on their brooms.

"What happened?" asked Bill pulling up looking shocked.

"bill stay here and keep an eye on these three," his mum said franticly. "If they wake up stun them, don't worry about the underage rule. Charlie, fly back to the house as fast as you can and get some aurors to get these three. I'm taking Harry to st Mungos _now!_ GO. GO.!"

"I'm coming too!" said Ginny, still doubled up in pain.

"Grab my hand," her mum said urgently. She turned on the spot and disapparated.


	3. Kings horses and kings men, with wands

Ginny felt the uncomfortable feeling of being squeezed from all sides that she knew came with apparition. After a split second it was over and she stumbled slightly as her mind adjusted to her fresh surroundings. Looking around she saw the foyer of St Mungos with healers walking among patients seated on chairs on the sides of the foyer.

"I need a healer now!" Molly cried desperately.

One of the nearby healers raced over.

"What happened?" she asked urgently when she saw Harry limp and drenched in blood. Ginny felt a surge of dread as she saw that Harry was unconscious. _Please, please don't let him be dead, _she thought desperately.

"He was stabbed multiple times by some muggles," Molly answered, her voice high pitched and rushed with worry.

"Here," the healer said. With a flick of her wand she conjured a stretcher on which Molly gently place Harry. With another flick of her wand a paper plane appeared and flew towards the stairs as the healer took the stretcher to one of the wards at a run. Everything seemed to be vibrating and Ginny realised that she was shaking.

"Ginny come on lets go," her mother said urgently. The pair of them racing after the healer and Harry, Ginny barely managing to avoid being dragged, her legs seemed to not want to do much. Eventually they reached a ward where she had seen Harry being pushed into. Three healers had stripped him of the tattered rags that where what was left of what he had been wearing. Ginny was loath to call those rags clothes.

"We need blood restoring potions now or he's not going to make it," said one healer.

"Get those wounds clean or we won't know where or how bad the wounds are," instructed another.

Ginny saw one running his wand over Harry tinny form, the blood running of him and exposing terrible punctures in his skin, showing muscle, tendon and bone. Her stomach lurched and the room spun. The pain that she had felt when Harry had been stabbed had faded and a terrible dizziness had overcome her. She felt short of breath. She slumped against her mother and closed her eyes and just relaxed into the dark.

"Open his mouth," the first healer said and one pulled his mouth open. Molly was appalled by the damage those muggles had done in just a few seconds. The first healer poured the potion he was holding down Harry's throat. She felt Ginny slump against her and she quickly caught her.

"Ginny?" she asked, worried. _What was happening to her, she looked like she'd been stabbed as well when Harry was hurt and now she's not responding to me._

She looked at the healers, two of which were running their wands over the stab wounds the other was uncorking a vial.

"There's severe internal damage, one of his lungs is punctured," the second healer said, concern in her voice. "His other lung is still working but it is having trouble with the lack of blood."

"The potion should start working soon," said the third as she dropped small droplets on Harry's wounds. There was a slight sizzle and a wisp of smoke as the flesh started to knit together.

"The nerves to his left arm are severed," the first healer observed. "He'll need time and nerve restoratives to regain use of his arm."

"Move back," said the second. All three stepped back as she pointed her wand at Harry's chest. There was a flash of light and Harry convulsed, his legs and right arm flailing for a second before becoming limp again.

"Keep going with the dittany, I'll check his back," she continued as the other two moved back in. She levitated Harry, vanished the bed and ducked under him, cleaning the blood off his back. After a couple more seconds she said, "Merlin, his backs worse!"

Bile rose in Molly's throat as she heard that. _How could anyone do this to a child? _She thought.

"His vitals are stabilising," said the first with relief.

"He's not out of the woods yet," the second retorted grimly.

"His arms broken," the third commented. "His ankle too possibly." With this she pointed her wand at Harry's arm and with a sickening squelch the bones mended. She then pointed it at his ankle, and said. "Hairline stress fracture."

"The potion is taking a long time, what's wrong?" pointed out the first while pointing his wand at Harry. After a second he said shocked, "His magical core is almost fully depleted, how long has he had to heal himself for?"

With a surge of anger Molly turned her attention to Ginny. She was pale as a sheet just like Harry, and seemed tired even in unconsciousness. She sat in one of the chairs and pulled Ginny onto her lap. It had been a lot for her baby to take in, a sudden magical pull, a vicious attack on her personal hero as well as the hero of the wizarding world and seeing the damage done by that attack would certainly be enough to shake her.

Movement on the edge of her vision made her look up. The healers where stepping back looking slightly relieved.

"How is he?" she asked urgently.

"Dittany is healing his stab wounds and the potion he took should replenish his blood supply soon," said the first healer. "We've fixed his broken arm and his ankle, but we suspect there might be more injuries. We'll need to wait a few hours before we can check to allow his body to adjust, too much magic used on him at once could do more harm than good." He noticed Ginny on her lap. "Is she alright? Did she get hurt too?" he asked.

"I don't know," Molly confessed anxiously. "She seemed fine at first this morning but when we went out she began to feel pain in her arm then her ankle. When Harry was attacked she looked like she'd been stabbed to but I can't find a mark on her."

He pointed his wand at Ginny, and strange patterns of light flowed over her skin. The healer frowned.

"Is she alright?" she asked desperately.

"I'm not sure," the healer replied. "The charms show no physical injury, though the magical response is the same as if she had received the same injuries as the young man there. I'll ask some of the other healers if they've seen this sort of thing before."

"Thank you," Molly whispered.

"You're welcome," he replied. Looking between Molly and Ginny and Harry he asked. "You're related?"

"Ginny's my daughter," Molly replied. "Ginny had a magical pull this morning that led her to Harry, when we got there three muggles who were with him attacked and stabbed him repeatedly. From a distance it looked as if he was already hurt before they attacked, he was limping and holding his left arm funny. When I saw them attack I knocked all three back, tied them up and left my eldest in charge of them till the aurors came while I took Harry here."

"Do you know his last name Mrs?" questioned the healer.

"Weasley, Molly Weasley," Molly replied. "And his last names Potter."

"_The_ Harry Potter," gasped the healer.

"Yes the scar's there on his head, that's how we knew," Molly replied.

"Thank you, my names Healer Symworth for reference," he said. "Feel free to rest here, I'll contact Dumbledore and get him here, he's supposed to be his magical guardian. I'll also check to see if anyone knows about what was happening to Ginny here."

"Thank you again," Molly whispered.

"Again you're welcome," Symworth replied.

Two hours later Symworth and one of the other healers returned. Symworth went straight to Molly and Ginny.

"I've asked and no-one has been able to determine what is happening with Ginny, has she woken yet?" he asked.

"No she's still the same though there is some colour back in her cheeks," Molly replied.

"That's good," Symworth stated.

"How's Harry?" Molly asked concerned.

"Sally, how is he?" Symworth asked.

"In a word? Bad." Sally said grimly. "His stab wounds are healed and his lung is no longer filling with blood but there's still some damage that will take some time to repair. He should be ready for the nerve restoratives now so we should start those soon, but otherwise he's in bad shape. I can see at least a dozen broken bones that haven't healed properly, ribs, arm, even a crack in his skull that isn't fully healed."

Molly gasped at this.

"It doesn't end there," Sally continued. "You've seen how small he is. He's severely malnourished, heavily under weight and dehydrated. I checked and there's barely a scrap of food in his system, so he hasn't had a decent meal in at least three days although given his malnourishment it could be longer, if ever. It seems from his magical drainage that he's had to either sustain himself for a very long time almost purely on his magic, had to heal a vast number of minor injuries on his own or both."

She looked at Molly.

"You said that you saw who did this?"

"Yes I saw the people who stabbed him," Molly said, her voice shaking at the thought of what Harry had had to go through. "I knocked them out and bound them, the aurors should have them by now; I left them in the care of my eldest while I took Harry and Ginny here."

"Good," Sally replied. "I'd hate to think someone who could do this would go unpunished."

"So do I," said Molly fervently. "When do you think he will wake up?"

"He should wake soon," Symworth said reassuringly.

As if on cue both Harry and Ginny's eyes snapped open.

Harry had been floating in a strange world of colour and motion. Vivid blues and greens had filled his vision after the squeezing blackness. He was, not exactly happy, more relieved that the pain had gone. The last thing he remembered was that kind woman's face as she held him after his aunt uncle and cousin had attacked him. Even though he was in that strange world he thought he could hear music and feel the pull, the same pull that made him turn to the two women, the ones who stopped the attack. The music was beautiful he liked to listen to it. Then the music and the colour started to fade. The colour turned to black and the music to a dull steady thud-thud-thud. He couldn't feel his left arm and there was just a dull ache in the rest of his body.

He realised his eyes were closed and the thud thud must be his heart. Did this mean he was alive? How could that be? There was no way he should have been able to survive that attack even if he was taken to hospital. He could hear voices taking and the pull that he had been feeling was as strong as ever. He took a deep breath and felt a sharp pain in his chest. His eyes snapped open and he gasped at the pain. He heard a second quiet gasp from someone else, as if they too had felt that.

The light blinded him and he squinted as his eyes adjusted. The ceiling above him was white and plain, no patterns or anything.

"He's awake," a strange voice said.

A blurry face appeared leaning over him. "Harry? How are you feeling?"

The face was the same voice that said he was awake but none of the other voices he knew. Not his aunts, not his uncles or cousins or teachers.

"I feel the pull," he murmured groggily. "Are they here? The ones who stopped my aunt and uncle?"

"They were your aunt and uncle?" several voices shouted angrily.

He cowered away from them. _What are they going to do now? I've made them angry they'll hurt me again and I don't think I could take that. What have I done?_

"I'm sorry," he whimpered. "Please don't hurt me, I'm sorry."

He cringed, waiting for the blows, the shouting that always came when his uncle was angry with him.

"It's alright dear," a different voice said soothingly. "We're not angry with you, you've done nothing wrong and we never want to hurt you."

"But you were angry," he whispered, the fear clawing at him. "When people are angry I get hurt, I don't want to get hurt."

"We won't hurt you even if we get angry at you dear," the second voice told him gently. "It's all right you're safe here."

"Safe?" he whispered. No-one had ever said he was safe before, what did they mean?

"Yes, dear safe," the second, gentle voice said. "You said it like a question, why?"

"What does safe mean?" he asked. "No-one's ever told me I was safe before."

"Never?" both voices and a third new one that sounded almost like the music when he was floating asked, sounding shocked.

"No," Harry said. "Is that wrong?" he continued scared. _What would happen now?_

"Safe means that you are somewhere protected, where you won't get hurt," said the first voice. "Have... have you ever been safe Harry?"

"I... I don't think so," he said shakily. "There's always Dudley, my aunt and uncle, my classmates..." he trailed off thinking about what would happen when he found his aunt and uncle again.

"Well you're safe here," the first voice said firmly. "We won't hurt you, we make you better, we take the pain away. You're not in any pain are you?"

He took a breath and winced at the pain in his lung. "N-No," he got out.

"Harry, you're in pain we can see that," the first voice said. "Where does it hurt?"

"You're not angry?" Harry asked tentatively.

"No why? Do your aunt and uncle get angry when you're hurt?" the voice asked.

Harry nodded mutely.

"It's all right," the second voice said. "If you're hurt, tell us. We won't get angry and we will help take the pain away."

"She's right Harry," the first voice said. "We won't hurt you. I'm what's called a healer, Healer Symworth. I take the pain away."

"I'm Molly Weasley and this is my daughter Ginny," the second voice said.

"Hello Harry." Ginny said. "You hurt in your lung."

Harry tried to sit up. _How does she know where I hurt?_ He looked around but everything was blurry. He raised his hand to his face but his glasses where gone.

"Your glasses are here Harry," Symworth said.

"Thank you," Harry said as he put them on. He looked toward Ginny. "How do you..."

Their eyes locked.

Harry was held strong and fast by her gaze and he heard the music again.

"...know" he breathed still unable to look away from her eyes. She walked forward and raised her hand as if to touch him. His right hand mimicked her without conscious thought. She took his hand.

The world dissolved into gold light.


	4. Didn't know you had music in you

Molly was not a person to panic, except where her children were concerned. In the case of her children she could panic for England, often tearing through everything in her way to relieve whatever happened to be the source of the panic. The worst times where when there was nothing that she could do and so when she found Ginny unconscious in St Mungos with a gold aura around her that prevented anyone touching her, she really panicked. She had just been talking to Harry Potter, trying to get him to tell them what happened to him, when he had looked at Ginny and froze in place.

The thing that shocked her most was the look on each of their faces. Both of them looked like they were blind people seeing the sun for the first time. The awe and wander in their faces was astonishing. They had looked at each other and then Ginny had got up and walked toward him, both raising their arms to take each other's hands. When they touched, golden light shot from their hands in thick cylinders, wrapping themselves around the two in a cage, then a web and finally all merging to form a glowing aura around them.

Then they collapsed.

Harry slumped back onto the bed and Ginny pitched forward to lie next to him. At the same time a wave of magic had pulsed out from them, knocking Symworth and Molly backwards against the wall. The wave was so powerful that the entire building shook like there was an earthquake. An hour later, here were the same healers who had tended Harry when he was first brought in, surrounding the pair, trying to figure out what had happened and if the children where any in danger. However none of their spells could reach them and no-one and nothing could touch them.

In a locked room in the department of mysteries, a song changed. It started as two separate pieces, each flowing in different ways and yet while there was elegance in the music there was no harmony. The pieces belonged together but they weren't. Finally the note was played and there was a beauty that would shatter the hardest heart, both flowing together and inseparable, to do so would shatter the music. On an ancient scroll of music in the middle of the room, words began to appear.

Needless to say, Molly was frantic. She had so far been given three doses of calming draught and she still tried to get to her daughter. Just then a distraction arrived in the shape of an auror and professor Dumbledore. Both stopped dead looking at the two children lying beneath a golden aura that nothing could enter.

"the Ministry picked up a pulse of accidental magic on a scale never seen before and I was sent to investigate." The auror explained. "what in the name of Merlin is going on?"

"We talked and he said and they looked and they touched and light and...and," gasped Molly, starting to hyperventilate. One of the healers grabbed a bottle and poured it down her throat. She calmed enough to stop hyperventilating and sat down.

"What happened?" asked Dumbledore.

"we don't know," said Symworth concerned. "We were talking to Harry and suddenly he broke off. Ginny there," he continued gesturing at Ginny who was still lying next to Harry, their hands linked and their bodies having shifted so they where embracing each other. "Ginny there and Harry were looking at each other and Ginny got up, walked to him and when they touched this shield sprung up. They both passed out and there was a pulse of magic that knocked Molly and I off our feet. Nothing we've been able to do has been able to affect them, that shield is blocking anything and everything we do."

"We need to get through to them soon Symworth," said another. "if we don't start the nerve potions soon he might not be able to use his arm again."

"Wait start from the beginning, start with how they came to be in the hospital," said Dumbledore impatiently.

"Ginny and I were at home cooking," Molly began in a tight voice, higher pitched than usual due to stress. "Ginny said that she felt a strange pull, like something in her was pulling her to go somewhere. Having felt it myself I believed her and went with her when we followed it. When we crested the hill Ginny felt a pain in her arm, like when she had broken it but less intense. We spotted Harry and three muggles in the distance, though we couldn't tell much about them at that distance.

"about halfway down the hill Ginny started limping like she had sprained her ankle but there was nothing wrong with it. Harry and the muggles had stopped by the stream and Harry was looking at it. We could tell something was wrong and we moved faster. Harry seemed to know we were there, he said later that he felt the pull as well. Then those..." her voice choked up in rage. "those creatures attacked him. They stabbed him again and again, the man, woman and boy. I knocked all three out and bound them. My sons had been playing quidditch and they came racing over on their brooms. Harry was hurt so bad, I told bill to watch the muggles till help came and sent Charlie to call the aurors."

"So that's what happened with those three muggles we took in a few hours ago," the auror commented.

"Yes," Molly continued. "I took Ginny because she demanded to come and knew she was shaken by what had happened and apparated here. The healers managed to fix his worst and most recent wounds but there were still more." She looked at Symworth.

"His wounds were some of the worst I've ever seen," he began. "He had a total of fourteen stab wounds to his chest, stomach and shoulders. He also had multiple broken ribs, a fractured ankle and his left arm broken in six places. Not to mention many cuts and bruises." He took a deap breath.

"Unfortunately that's not the end of it," he continued. "Our diagnostic spells show that he has many older injuries that have not been given proper treatment. He was also critically malnourished and on the brink of starvation and was seriously dehydrated. He has obviously been neglected and abused for quite some time, possibly as long as four years. His magical core has been sustaining him for quite some time, it was almost entirely expended and it was taking a very long time for any of our potions to have any effect."

Both Dumbledore and the auror were looking ill and horrified.

"They managed to get the worst injuries dealt with and got Harry so that he wasn't in mortal peril, but," Molly paused to take a breath. "his nerves had been damaged and the older injuries were still there, much more magic would make him ill. Ginny had passed out but she was very pale, when Harry's colour returned so did hers. He was unconscious for a few hours and we got him to talk a bit. Somehow Ginny knew he was in pain and where, like she could feel it too. Then they looked at each other..." she trailed off.

Dumbledore looked shocked.

"Do you have any idea what is happening?" One of the other healers asked.

"I have my suspicions, this fits most of the criteria for the idea though it has never been heard of to occur in any child, let alone two this young," he answered slowly. We should wait till they wake up, in the meantime, Masen," he said turning to the auror. "Could you ask Maria Elmswood from the department of mysteries to bring the Singing Scroll here if there are any new additions to it?"

"Of course," she replied and left the room.

Several minutes past with everyone waiting to see what would happen.

"Is the aura getting paler?" Molly blurted out suddenly.

"Why yes it appears so," Dumbledore said looking at the glowing golden shield. "Let us see what will occour when it is gone."

Harry was floating again. He knew that this was the same place that he was before he woke in the hospital, but it had changed. The music was different, smoother and more harmonious than before. There seemed to be two parts, one coming from him, and one coming from elsewhere. The sky also was no longer a chaotic swirl of colours; it was now a smooth pattern of green, chocolate brown and deep gold. He walked, or maybe glided or flew, in the colour world, trying to find the other part of the music.

Up ahead he saw someone, wandering like he was.

"Hello!" he called.

The person turned and suddenly they were face to face, just a meter apart.

"Harry?" the girl said. He recognised her instantly, she was the girl who had touched him in the hospital with the brown eyes that captured his.

"Ginny?" he asked. "What are you doing here? Is this a dream?"

"I was going to ask you that," she said. "this doesn't feel like a dream."

"I was here before I woke up in the hospital," said Harry. "The music was different then and there were more colours, but they looked wierd, there was no pattern."

"it was the same for me when I passed out in the hospital," she replied.

"How did I get better," Harry asked. "Everything was fading and it hurt so bad. I'm not complaining but how did it happen."

"The healers used magic to make you better," Ginny replied.

"But magic doesn't exist," he argued confused. Magic didn't exist but then how did he get better so fast.

He suddenly realised that he had been talking to her for so long and asking so many questions and yet no one had shouted at him or hit him. He was allowed to talk to her, and for some reason he trusted her.

They sat down together, and Ginny explained all about magic and the world that she lived in. As she did so he could see flashes of it, like he was remembering something only he'd never done it. At the same time he could here words other than what she was speaking.

"wait just a minute," he asked.

_What, whats wrong I'm not boring him am i? You idiot Ginny, you shouldn't have talked to much. Now he'll..._

"No you're not boring me," Harry said.

_What? I didn't say that did I? Oh no, no, no!_

"I could hear you, but you didn't say anything," he said surprised. _What's going on. _

"I don't know but I'd like to find out," Ginny said.

_Wait, can you hear this?_

"Yeah I heard you," Ginny replied. _How did that happen? I didn't see his mouth move._

_WE CAN HEAR EACH OTHERS THOUGHTS! _He thought in astonishment.

"WHAT?" Ginny cried. _No WAY! How can we hear each other's thoughts?_

_I don't know, _he thought back. _Did you ever have a magical swing that would go all the way around?_

_How did you know that? _Ginny thought. _Wait did you have to sleep in a CUPBOARD? _

_I think we can see each other's memories as well,_ he thought. He looked through his memories and felt something else there in his mind. Like some part of his mind was thinking for itself. With a start he realised this was Ginny's mind.

_I can feel you in my mind, _she said with a mixture of astonishment, awe, embarrassment and joy.

He remembered the stories his father told him as he sat reading the stories of Harry Potter, how he'd vanquished the Dark Lord Voldemort.

She remembered the flash of green light that haunted her dreams and the high pitched laugh.

They sat in silence, both verbal and mental as they flowed through each others memories.

Finally they got to the attack. They each felt the pull to the other and remembered the pain that they shared. They remembered Molly blasting the Dursleys away from Harry, and apparating to st mungos. They remembered the way their eyes locked and they couldn't look away.

At the end Harry knew that Ginny would never hurt him. She cared for him and he cared for her. He needed her. Ginny knew Harry needed the support she would give him. They didn't know how or why or what had happened but they knew each other and would do their best to help each other.

As they realised this the world began to fade...

On the bed in st mungos, two pairs of eyes snapped open mere inches apart.

_Did you go through...?_

_Yeah your relatives were so horrible, I'm so sorry._

_It's all right._

"Ginny! Harry! Are you okay?" a voice cried from the side. They both turned their heads to see just as Molly wrapped her arms around Ginny.

"Are you okay? Can you hear me dear?" she asked frantically.

"I'm fine mum," Ginny said.

Molly picked Ginny up off the bed in a bone cracking hug. As she cleared the bed both stiffened and cried out in pain, their bodies twitching and writhing. A gold thread appeared linking the two children together and with a flash of light Molly was thrown across the room and Ginny darted toward Harry, the thread pulling her like a fish on a line. The golden shield glowed around them as they came back into contact, fading after a few seconds. As Molly picked herself up shocked, they both started to talk.

"Howhat isd hapeingow..." they stopped, their words where garbled and mixed but identical coming from both mouths. They turned to face each other but their bodies flailed all over the place, their torsos snapped around in one direction while their heads turned another and their arms twitching in all directions. Both cried out in fear but the cries were garbled but the same again.

Suddenly the bed spread caught on fire, flames licking over Harry. He cried fire and slapped at it trying to put it out as he jerked back. Ginny mimicked him precicesly and at the same time her voice closer to Harry's than her own. The fire vanished.

"Stop!" cried Dumbledore.

They both froze.

"Now don't do anything unless I tell you to," he said. "I want to test something; Harry will you please raise your right hand to shoulder height? Ginny just relax and do nothing."

Harry did as he was told and raised his right arm. So did Ginny.

"Ginny he told you to do nothing," scolded Molly.

"I didn't do anything," both said. "My arm lifted on its own."

They were interrupted by Masen returning and the two heard the music that was in there shared dream.

"The music," they whispered. "It's so beautiful."

"I know Gin," they whispered back.

"You can hear the music?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes," they both said at the same time.

Dumbledore thanked Masen and took the scroll. Written on the scroll was the words;

Harry James Potter and Ginnevra Molly Weasley. Soul Bonded 16 June 1986

"Soul Bond," he breathed.

He turned to the rest of the people in the room. "It appears that my suspicions were correct."

"Well what happened? How bad is it? How do we stop it?" Molly urged.

"This is not a bad thing, in fact it is one of the rarest and most beautiful things in the world," he said. "As for stopping it, that is neither desirable nor possible. Attempting to stop this will kill both of them. While I will not say the path they're on will be easy I can assure you that it will bring them both happiness."

"What happened to them?" Molly asked again.

"Not yet, let us see to their health first," Dumbledore replied.

The healers taking their cue descended on the children. One tried to take Ginny off the bed only to have the same reaction as Molly.

"I'm afraid that the two need to spend the next month at least in physical contact," said Dumbledore. "As you can see, separation leads to large outbursts of magic and physical pain for them."

The healers quickly ran diagnostics. Confused they consulted for a second and repeated. Looking baffled they called a fourth healer to do the same.

"What is it," demanded Molly.

"Nothing bad," Symworth replied. "When we last scanned Harry, he still had many injuries, many of which would take months to heal. However they simply, aren't there anymore."

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked.

"The knife wound to the shoulder severed the nerves to his left arm," he explained. "It should have taken a month of potions and exercise to restore the nerves. Right now however, there is no damage and barely any sign that there ever was any damage."

"That's interesting," Dumbledore mused. "a new avenue to this."

"Dumbledore!" Molly shouted. "What is going on! If you know something about this TELL US!"

"There is no cause for alarm," he assured her. Turning to the healers, "This is an extremely private matter and as such I must ask you to leave. Now."

While it was a polite request his tone obviously allowed no argument. The healers filed out. Symworth turned in the doorway. "are you sure there is no risk?" he asked. "Just hours ago Harry was at deaths door, how are we supposed to be sure he will not have side effects?"

"I assure you Symworth there is no danger to their health," Dumbledore replied. With that he left shutting the door behind him.

"Now we have privacy," Dumbledore said. "What I can tell you is that Harry and Ginny are now soul bonded."

"Soul bonded?" gasped Molly. "That's supposed to be a myth."

"No it's just extremely rare," he replied.

"What does soul bonded mean" Ginny and Harry intoned with Ginny's voice.

"How are they speaking like that?" Molly asked alarmed.

"I have a theory, and soul bonded means that your souls are joined," Dumbledore replied. "this is a very rare occourance and only occours between true soul mates. The bonding gives many abilities, has some requirements and progresses in several stages, Harry and Ginny are currently in the first which lasts usually between 12 and 24hours."

"Soul mates," gasped Harry. He turned to Ginny suddenly. "Wait I can't hear you anymore,"

"Same," she replied. "Do you think it's gone?"

"I hope not," Harry said. "it was nice to talk like that."

"Ah this is typical for this stage of the bond," Dumbledore said. "The first stage is the most chaotic and frightening for those who do not know what to expect. There are five known stages though it is theorised that there are in fact seven. We know of five because a previous bond reached that stage. Soul bonds reach at least the third or fourth stages but there is only one known bond that reached the fifth and the other two if they exist are a mystery." He paused.

"The first stage is the joining," he continued. "it starts when the couple first touches while looking into each others eyes, though there is a pull to do that before the bond is formed. During this stage the bond is unstable and the strength of the bone fluctuates wildly. From the level you see now, just requiring contact, too what you experienced before with accidental magic and other unidentified phenomena. The length of this stage is a measure of the streangth of the bond, as well as revealing some of the abilities that you will recieve. I take it that you can talk in each others minds?" he asked.

"Yes, I saw all his memories too," Ginny said.

"That's interesting. The longer the stage lasts the more powerful the bond is and the more stages the couple reaches. The longest is 28 hours and that was Merlin. The second stage is simply the requirement to have physical contact; the bonded pairs need to have constant physical contact for at least 2 weeks, sometimes as much as three months. I mean 24/7 contact." All three people gasped.

"Youat deen oggu" cried Harry and Ginny together.

"How can they do that?" Molly shouted. "They cannot be together permanently!"

"I know this is difficult but there is nothing we can do to change it," said Dumbledore simply. "If the bond is severed both of them will die. If they don't get the nessesary contact they can become physically and emotionally ill. With the power that their now joined and enhanced magical cores have that could have disastrous consequences. The good news is that the stronger bonds, while the urge for physical contact is stronger, the required time for constant contact is shorter.

"The third stage is where the couples minds merge, this enables constant communication. The couple can hear each others thoughts anywhere and there is no way to sever the link unless initiated by one of the bonded people."

"What does that mean," Molly asked.

"Simply it means that the two can block access to and from their minds against each other, to keep a secret or if they are angry or hurt," Dumbledore replied. "The stronger bonds also give the pair a natural talent for the mind arts: occlumency and legilimency. It appears that Harry and Ginny have taken it a step further and they can share memories.

"the fourth stage is where they share senses. Couples usually share sight. I'm going to test to see what extent you two share senses."

He flicked his wand and Ginny was now blindfolded with a peg on her nose and ear plugs. "Harry just think of a random thing and don't let your senses distract you, just stare straight ahead," he instructed.

He conjured an animal. "What have I conjured Ginny?" he asked.

"A kitten," she replied correctly.

"That is sight and sound," he said. He flicked his wand and Harry's vision was blocked by a blindfold. Dumbledore then summoned a flower and held it under Ginny's nose. "What does she smell?"

"It's a flower," he replied. "a red rose."

"correct."

He tapped Harry six times. "how many times did I tap Harry and where?"

"Once on the hand, once on the elbow, twice on the head, once on the chest and once on the leg," Ginny answered.

"Perfect."

He summoned a rasher of bacon and some fruit. He told Harry to open his mouth, "what does Harry taste,"

"Bacon," she replied and went onto name all the fruits he tried.

"That is excellent!" said Dumbledore pleased and with a flick removed the blindfolds, peg and earplugs.

"Your aura, I didn't notice it before," Ginny commented. "It's white red and gold but is has some grey bands. Courage, power, and happiness mostly, but deep down there's an old pain and regret."

Dumbledore looked astonished. _Not only do they have shared senses they developed another one! _He thought.

"That is aura vision, a very rare gift, there are few who have it," he said looking mightily impressed.

"Thank you," both said.

"What is with that speaking? It's really starting to scare me," Molly said.

"I believe it's part of the fith stage," Dumbledore said. "In the fifth stage, couples are able to control each others bodys."

"What like the imperius curse?" gasped Molly.

"No they can allow each other control," Dumbledore replied. "Though they seem to unconsciously controlling each other. That is what you saw earlier with their incomprehensible speech; both tried to talk for each other at the same time. I will try another test to see the level of control they have." He gave Ginny a potion. "That potion will put you to sleep, are you okay with Harry controlling your body while you sleep?" he asked kindly.

They looked at each other and nodded. Ginny took the potion and drank it down in one gulp.


	5. Experiment

_They looked at each other and nodded. Ginny took the potion and drank it down in one gulp._

Ginny's eyes fluttered, drooped and finally closed as she lay back on the bed.

"What was it that you gave her?" Harry asked curiously. He felt her mind with his link. There were just swirls of colour and vague emotions; greens and gold's, hope, excitement and anxiety. But there were no discernable worded thoughts. He caught a few memories, waving to her brother on a red train, cooking with her mother, but no actual conscious thoughts.

"A potion for a dreamless sleep," Dumbledore replied. "now I think that the best way for this to work is if you don't have control over your body to start, so what I'm going to do is cast a body bind curse on you, it doesn't hurt" he added, seeing his eyes widen with fear. "It will simply freeze your limbs in place and leave you unharmed. While like this try to make Ginny move. Are you ready?" he asked.

Tentatively Harry nodded.

It was one of the creepiest feelings that he had ever felt when the spell hit. Like his body was no longer obeying him. He tried to move but got no response.

"Now try to make Ginny move, just try clenching her fist first," Dumbledore suggested.

He tried to make her move. But he came across the same feeling when he had tried to move his own body. He was anxious. _Could the potion be affecting the link? Maybe I can only control her if she lets me while she's awake._

He looked into her mind again and it was still in the same state that he saw before. Just as he was about to settle back and wait for Dumbledore to release the curse he felt something different, yet familiar. It was hard to put his finger on but it was there. He looked through the sensations that he was feeling from Ginny and thought there was nothing there that was not in his own body.

Then it hit him. It was not that there was something that she was feeling that he wasn't. It was that he was feeling something she wasn't; the paralysis. He pushed a bit deeper into Ginny's mind and felt the feeling that he remembered from the senses tests. _I hope she doesn't mind this, _he thought nervously. He remembered that he needed to clench his fists and tried to do so.

He felt something on his hands and realised that he was feeling his hands clench.

_I did it!_

"Excellent, well done Harry," Dumbledore said. "Now see what else you can do with the bond."

He wandered what Dumbledore was doing at the moment, he was out of Harry's sight so he sat up automatically and opened his eyes. _Wait, _he thought. _my eyes were open how did I open them again? _Looking around he saw Dumbledore and Molly looking surprised at him and the ceiling above him. _I'm seeing through both our eyes at once, _he realised. _Amazing._

"I trust that Ginny has not woken yet Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"No she hasn't," he replied but something in his voice sounded wrong. It sounded like when he was making Ginny speak with him but not in stereo.

"ah I see that your voice is different from the use of Ginny's body," Dumbledore said.

"It feels wrong doing this," Harry said. "It feels like I'm forcing her to do things, I don't like that."

"Yes, controlling someone to your own ends is wrong," Dumbledore said. "Though Ginny gave you her permission to take control. She also has the same power with you. There might come a time in the future, if one of you is unconscious and the other isn't, that you might need to take control to get them out of harm's way. So this practice, as long as you both agree is harmless and a useful skill. It is only when you use it for ill that it is bad."

Harry/Ginny nodded, "I think I understand. Like if she is sleeping and the building catches fire, I could go into her body and get her out."

"Exactly," Dumbledore nodded smiling. "Now I will take the bind curse off you and see if you can control both your bodies at once." He flicked his wand and another feeling of control of his body surge through him and his real body relax. He tried making it sit up and found that while it did, Ginny's body also curled forward. He stopped and tried to isolate the command to sit up and send it to his real body only. After several tries and a couple of times making himself lean back he could get his real body to move completely independently of Ginny's, keeping control over both at once.

"That is very good Harry," Dumbledore said.

"What about Ginny?" Molly interjected. "what is she doing in this? You aren't having to stop her doing things to get her to do what you want are you?" her voice was strained anxious.

Harry shrank back a bit.

"I', sorry," he said. "I'm not doing anything to stop her, she doesn't know what is happening. She's still asleep."

She rounded on Dumbledore. "Why did you send her to sleep?" she demanded. "She doesn't know what her body is doing; don't you think that is wrong?"

"There are issues with this, certainly," Dumbledore replied. "I thought it would be a better idea for them to learn to control each other's body while the other was asleep for three reasons. First, it would reduce the distractions that would interfere with their control. Second if one is asleep they don't have to feel like they are out of control of their own bodies or that they are surrendering to another's will. Thirdly, we can be sure that the bond gives this ability if..."

"Um," Harry interrupted. "I can feel the link fading..." his voice trailed off as Ginny's body became limp and slumped back on the bed next to Harry.

"Ah yes," Dumbledore said. "I half expected this to happen. The fluctuations will continue till the first stage is complete and the bond stabalises."

"Can we wake Ginny up?" Harry asked. "I mean if it's not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all Harry," Dumbledore replied, picking up another bottle from the bedside table where the potions were left. He gently opened Ginny's mouth and poured a small measure down her throat.

A couple of seconds passed before Ginny stirred.

"Ginny, you need to wake up," Molly called, moving over to her daughter.

"Five more minutes," she mumbled. Harry and Dumbledore chuckled.

Hearing the chuckles she sits up and cried out in pain. Harry who had also cried out when sitting up had broken their connection grabbed hold of her again.

"So that wasn't a dream," Ginny said.

"No dear," Molly replied. "It was all very real."

"Did it work?" she asked. "Did Harry manage to take control?"

"Yes he did," Molly replied. "He was able to get you to sit up and talk before the link got weaker and he lost control."

"Wow," she said.

"Wow indeed," Dumbledore said. "The other soul bonds did not get to that stage, Merlins was the only one that started this stage and they could barely move each other's eyes. This means that your bond is the strongest in history."

Harry and Ginny looked at each other in shock.

"Do any of you have any questions for me?" Dumbledore asked.

"You said something about magical cores," Ginny said. "What are they? I heard of them once but I didn't understand."

"Your magical core is the source of your magic," Dumbledore began. "It is a part of you and you can tap into it when you need to. It is this that enables you to do magic and its power is focussed by a wand. When you are young, your emotions can shape the magic enough to do accidental magic. Without a wand there are very few spells that can be done and many people cannot do more than the most basic spells such as a light charm, or levitation charm."

"You said ours would be en-camped," said Harry. "What does that mean."

"Enhanced means strengthened," he replied. "The bond enables you to share magical cores and also strengthened them. The end result will undoubtedly be spectacular, for you don't just have the power of a regular magical core; you have the composite of two perfectly matched and already strengthened cores. This in fact brings up a problem." He continued looking at Molly.

"The cores will be extremely powerful, to the extent that if they lose control, the power unleashed could do severe damage."

"Don't children have some limiter on them?" asked Molly.

"Yes," he replied. "All magical children have a binding placed on their core by the Trace spell that is in effect in England. Usually it starts to unravel when they turn 11 and is helped by the purchasing of a wand, eventually being completely removed when the Trace is broken at 17. I think it will be in their best interests if the bindings are removed and they start learning to control their magic early. If they have an outburst that breaks the bindings the power that would be released could kill them. It is better if we start releasing their cores slowly and training them now so they can reign in their abilities."

"Is there anything about this bond that can't kill them?" asked Molly irritated. "It seems that everything from their own magic to not touching each other can kill them. Ever since you walked in you keep saying that anything we try to do will kill our baby and she is stuck forever with a boy we have barely even met!" her voice had risen while she was taking and she was breathing heavily. Harry had shrunk into himself while she spoke.

"I-I-I'm sorry ma'am," he stuttered. "I didn't m-mean for this. I'm sorry."

The fear in his eyes broke Molly's anger on the spot.

"it's all right sweetheart," she said gently. "I know that it's not your fault, it's just that I don't like that my daughters future is already set to a greater or lesser extent."

Harry and Ginny looked at each other for a few seconds and Harry relaxed a bit.

"Did you have any more questions?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry and shook their heads but Molly asked, "who will be teaching them?"

"I could if you wish," he said.

"That's great," Molly replied surprised. "And what about Harry, will he be allowed to live with us? And what about his aunt and uncle?"

"Of course Harry will be allowed to live with you," Dumbledore said. " it is really the only practical option seeming as we need to keep Harry and Ginny together. As for his, _relatives_, I believe they have been charged and are awaiting trial."

"You mean I don't have to go back?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Of course not," Dumbledore replied. "We would never have sent you there in the first place if we had any idea it would be like this.

"And now I should leave. The healers sound like they're getting restless and I have a meeting with the wizengamont, though I could come round later if you like to answere any more questions you think up and help with the practical side of things."

"Thank you," Molly said and with that he bowed and walked out of the ward.

As soon as the tail of his cloak wisked out the door the healers came bustling back in. They made Harry and Ginny lie back down and gave them both a thourough check over. Apparently they found no physical injuries and the only thing they found was that Harry was still magically exhausted. They gave Molly some nutrient potions and prescribed a week's rest to recover. With no actual injuries left to treat they were discharged and allowed to go home.

While they were on their way out they ran into a medium sized wizard, with the same bright red hair as Ginny, though with the beginnings of a bald patch.

"Arthur where have you been?" Molly cried. "You missed everything!"

"I'm so sorry Molly dearest," he replied apologetically. "I was out trying to sort out some old lady who got a charmed tea set and only just heard that you and Ginny were here! Is everything all right?"

"Oh everything's gone crazy," she said. "Physically we're all fine but we should first get these two home." She continued gesturing to Harry and Ginny, who were walking along together, hand in hand.

"Oh," he said surprised. "Who is this?"

"Not here Arthur," she said. "Now come here you two."

And with that she dissaparated, taking Ginny and Harry, along with Arthur.


	6. Home but still wet behind the ears

The four people apparated just outside of The Burrow with a 'pop' and both Ginny and Harry staggered from the landing. Harry was on his knees gasping.

"That was just like after..." Harry said shakily.

"It's all right Harry," Ginny soothed him. "Apparating is like that, you weren't hurt again."

"What's wrong?" Molly asked.

"When Harry last apparated it was when he was hurt," Ginny explained. "He thought he was dying. When we did it again he panicked."

"It's all right dear," Molly reassured him.

"I'm sorry," Harry said. He mind was racing but Ginny's voice in his mind was soothing him, giving him something to guide him.

_It's all right Harry; I'll never let you get hurt again._

_I know, _he replied. _I trust you._

_Thank you, we will always be together, _Ginny reassured him. _I'll always be there._

Molly and Arthur looked at the two children kneeling on the path to their home; hands linked staring into each other's eyes as they communicated wordlessly.

"Umm what's going on?" Arthur asked. "Why are they holding hands?"

"It's a long story Arthur," Molly replied. "Basically they have to keep holding hands or they lose are in excruciating pain. They also do a lot of accidental magic; they knocked me across the ward when I separated them."

"What?"

"I know," Molly replied. "There was just a flash and I was flying across..."

She was interrupted by Ginny saying, "It's gone again; I can't hear you anymore."

"I know," Harry replied. "It feels lonely when you're not in my head. It's weird because I've never felt lonely before."

"I know; I remember just like you do."

"I hope we get to the third stage soon."

"Yeah, the second stage will be bad; I mean what are we going to do with baths and stuff?"

Harry looked mortified and gulped while turning bright red.

"I-I don't know," he answered.

Molly cut in before Ginny could say anything more; "We can sort all that out when we're inside alright dear?"

They both nodded and Molly and Arthur led the way to the Burrow. Harry paused on the threshold, afraid to go in. He'd never had a friend, let alone been around their house and now apparently they were going to live together. He was going to live with Ginny, the one who he knew wouldn't hurt him and he was always safe with.

He could hardly get his head around the idea; he was with Ginny, he was never going back to the Dursleys, he could hear Ginny's thoughts and knew her inside and out and she knew him. He was magical and he was going to learn how to control it.

"It's all right Harry, don't be scared," Ginny said.

"How did you know I was scared," he whispered, worried that people would hear that he was scared; he wasn't allowed to be scared before and he was always beaten when he was.

"I could feel it," Ginny said. "Can't you?"

He concentrated for a few seconds. He realised that even at this level even if they couldn't share thoughts, they could share emotions. He smiled.

"See?" Ginny said. "It's easy if you just flow with it."

With that he followed her in. The kitchen was small and cluttered but very homely; most unlike what the Dursleys had. He looked around and saw the cookies left out on the bench that Molly was putting away and the clock with nine hands on it; each of them pointing at 'home'. The dishes were cleaning themselves in the sink and the old wireless on the counter was playing a ballad that sounded rather odd.

"Ginny? Could you take Harry up to your room?" Molly asked. "We should get his things from his old house soon enough."

"There's no need for that Mrs Weasley," Harry stammered.

"Nonsense dear," she replied. "It's no trouble and please call me Molly or mum."

"Mum he doesn't mean that," Ginny said.

"Ginny please don't," he whispered.

"What does he mean then dear," Molly asked looking confused.

"Gin-"

"Quiet Harry," Ginny said. Molly suddenly noticed that she had tears in her eyes. "What he means is all he has are these clothes; everything he ever got was taken away." By this point her eyes were swimming with tears for her bond mate.

"WHAT?" Molly screeched. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE ONLY HAS THE CLOTHES HE STANDS UP IN? THAT'S OUTRAGEOUS!"

"Mum stop!" Ginny cried. She realised that Harry was cowering, terrified behind Ginny, holding on to her hand with a death grip; his face chalk white. "Stop your scaring him!"

"I'm sorry Harry dear," she said stepping forward only to have him flinch back shaking like a leaf.

"Mum let me," her daughter said. Ginny turned and looked Harry in the face, feeling his terror over her link and the flickers of thoughts that flew through the link as it waxed strong again. "Harry, it's all right; no-one's going to hurt you. You're safe here and mum wasn't angry with you; she was angry with the Dursleys for what they did." As she talked to him he gradually stopped shaking and relaxed his hold on her hand; the colour creeping back into his face.

"What did I do wrong?" Molly asked.

"Every time that someone in his aunt and uncles house was angry they took it out on him," Ginny said her eyes streaming from the memories that she saw in Harry's mind. Memories of beatings that left him barely able to move; that left him unconscious for days or even as long as a week. She couldn't believe that anyone could do this to any person, least of all her Harry! He was sweet and kind and shy; and from his memories could work hard and cared for others even though he was worse off than most.

"When you shouted he thought that you'd hit him; he didn't know we don't do that," she continued.

At that moment Bill walked in. "Who's getting hit?" he asked.

"No-one dear," Molly said. "Harry's just having a difficult time adjusting to a place where he is cared for," she continued, her voice breaking near the end of the sentence.

"She's right, Harry was it?" Bill said. He looked at him strangely. "You're out of hospital early. Don't worry; mum might get angry with us and boy you know about it when she does; but she never hits us." He looked back at his mother. "I gave a report to the aurors who came to see about those three muggles; they said they would come round later to collect statements as to what happened."

"Did they say exactly when?" she asked.

"No but they said that they would wait till they got information about who exactly those three were from their muggle sources," he replied.

"That's good," Molly said relieved. "I was hoping Albus could come round to discuss with Harry what will happen to those animals," she spat. "They really should be put down for what they did to him; now how about the other boys?"

"Fred and George were a bit shaken from what they saw and Ron didn't get there in time to see Harry. Charlie got help within ten minutes and the three of them were out the whole time. They got the knives and all three of them had blood stains on them so there shouldn't be a problem with charges," he stopped to get a hold on his feelings.

"Anyway, they took them to the ministry; they were still unconscious and from what they said they wouldn't wake up for some time. That horsey faced one had to go to St Mungos; something about neck damage when she was clothes -lined by her husband. Those were some wicked curses mum."

"They deserve worse," Ginny growled. "After what they did to him for all those years..."

"Wait," Bill said. "You mean that that wasn't a once off thing?"

"No," Ginny said. "They hit him all the time. He was hurt so often that he had to use his magic to make himself better."

"The healers in St Mungos said that it had probably gone on for several years," Molly said. "Broken bones, severe malnourishment; he was living almost purely on magic. If he was a muggle he would have been dead years ago and they never got him any help for his injuries and from what Ginny said they were all inflicted by those three."

"We shouldn't have bothered with aurors," Bill growled. "We should have killed them then and there."

"I think so too, but we can't," Molly sighed. "Anyway, take Harry up to your room Ginny dear; I'll call you when dinner's ready and can you ask your father to come down here."

"Come on Harry," Ginny said excitedly. "I'll show you my room."

She dragged him up the stairs as Molly turned to Bill.

"What was it that you were thinking when you saw him just then; you were looking at him funny," Molly asked.

"How did he get out of St Mungos so quickly? The healers are good, but from what you said he should have been in there for weeks at least. How did he heal so fast?"

"That's one of the things that we need to talk about with your father. You are the eldest so we need you to help us with this; Harry is going to need a lot of support to get over his life with his relatives and now we've got another complication." Molly sighed. "This is all happening so fast; to think it was only this morning that everything was normal and now it's all up in the air."

"So Harry will just be staying till we can find a home for him." Bill said.

"No, he will have to stay here," Molly said firmly. "It's for the best."

"Mum, you know as well as I do that we can barely keep ourselves afloat with all seven of us kids," Bill said. "I know that he would be a great kid but I don't think we can afford it and I'm sure dad will agree."

"I know but it's not that simple."

Just then Arthur walked in. "What were you yelling about earlier dear? Did Fred and George do something to our guest?"

"No, Fred and George weren't here when we came home," Molly explained taking a seat at the table, bill and Arthur copying her. "The poor boy had been treated worse than a Malfoy house elf." Arthur choked and looked furious at this. "When he came here he revealed that the only things he owns are the clothes he stands up in."

"WHAT?"

"It gets worse," she continued grimly. "From the healers reports and what Harry and Ginny have told us he has been beaten and abused for years; the healers found three recent fractures, all less than a day or two old, on top of the stab wounds..."

"STAB WOUNDS?" he cried. "Wait start from the beginning."

"It started this morning; Ginny and I were making cookies when she felt a strange pull. Just like I did when you fell out of that tree," she said looking at Bill. "Anyway, we followed the pull out past the orchard and Ginny started feeling pains like she had broken her arm." The two men looked surprised at this. "There wasn't any injury, but her body was responding like there was. Anyway, we tracked the pull towards the stream and saw Harry and his relatives from a distance. They stopped by the stream and by that time there was a hedge between us and Harry's relatives while Harry was in plain sight. We saw that he had a broken arm and was limping.

"That's when everything went bad; Harry turned to look at us. He said that he felt the same pull Ginny did and then his relatives attacked him. They hadn't seen us so the grabbed him and started stabbing him." Her voice broke and there were tears in her eyes. "He was screaming and so I blasted the hedge apart and knocked the three of them back with an impediment jinx. The woman got hit in the jaw and neck when I hit her husband; that is why she's in St Mungos. Ginny had collapsed when he was attacked and had just gotten up and came over. I picked Harry up and that was when bill and the rest arrived; I told Charlie to go for help and Bill to keep an eye on the muggles before apparating Ginny, Harry and I to St Mungos," she paused to take a deep breath and calm down a bit; having to relive the events of this morning were taking a lot out of her.

"Once there I called for a healer and she took him straight to a ward with three healers taking care of him. Ginny passed out once we got there which is a good thing; he looked horrible, I wouldn't want her to see any more of what was going on, she's only five. Well they patched him up; closed the stab wounds and gave him blood replenishing potion but there were some longer lasting injuries. He had a punctured lung and one of the stabs had severed the nerves to his left arm. They had to wait a couple of hours before they could do anything more; too much magic could overwhelm him. When they came back a couple of hours later they did a full diagnostic. There was so much: he had unhealed fractures in his arms, ribs and skull to name a few." Both men looked appalled.

"You mean that they never even took him to muggle healers?" Arthur cried. "What kind of animals _are _those people?"

"The worst kind," Billy said.

"Yes, but that's not all," Molly said. "He was severely dehydrated and malnourished; at the moment he looks like he's the same age as Ginny or younger when he's a year older. They said that there was almost no food in his system so he must have barely eaten in days. What's more his magical core was almost drained; he must have been living off his magic for ages, used it to heal dozens of injuries or both. That and the psychological damage; he is scared of most if not all adults and believes he's going to be beaten whenever someone loses their temper of raises their voice." She shook her head. "Honestly, this is going to be a long hard road to recovery."

"What happened after they told you that?" Arthur asked.

"Right after they finished explaining everything, Harry and Ginny both woke up. We talked a bit and found out the people who attacked him were his aunt, uncle and cousin. When we asked him where he was hurt Ginny knew, then they looked at each other." She paused to collect herself.

"The looks on their faces was just," she struggled. "It was like a blind man looking at the sun for the first time; like they had seen the most beautiful and awesome thing in existence. Then Ginny got up and they took each other's hands. Gold light surrounded them, coming in bands from their hands and then they collapsed. The healers tried to find out what had happened but none of their spells could get through the glow that was around them."

Silence reigned in the Weasley kitchen.

"What in merlins name was _that,_" Bill asked looking utterly flabbergasted.

"I really didn't understand much of what Dumbledore was saying, he had just got there after they collapsed, I'll floo him now," Molly replied.

She got up from the table and went to the fireplace and chucked a small handful of powder into the flames.

"Hogwarts Headmasters office!"

After a minute speaking to Dumbledore Molly pulled her head out of the fire and walked back to the table. With a roar of green flames Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the fire and brushed the soot off his robes.

"Ah, good evening Arthur, William," he said smiling at the other two men. "Molly said that you needed information regarding what happened today with Ginny and Harry Potter."

Arthur choked and spluttered for a second. "_Potter! _As in _the _Harry Potter?" he looked at his wife.

"Yes, we saw his scar when I took care of his relatives," she explained. "I got so caught up in what went on I forgot that you didn't know."

"Okay," Arthur said. "So what did happen when that glow surrounded them?"

"What that was, was a very rare occurrence called a soul bond," Dumbledore said. "I essence, their souls joined together granting them many gifts as well as pairing them for life."

"So the two of them will be together?" Bill said.

"Yes, at the moment the bond is stabilising, so there will a considerable amount of fluctuation in the properties of the bond, but during this stage, the first, they will need to be in permanent skin to skin contact with each other."

"That's why they were holding hands?" Bill asked.

"Correct."

"How long does this first stage last?" Arthur asked.

"The length depends on the strength of the bond; the longer the first stage the stronger. The longest known is 28 hours and that was Merlin, from what we've seen this will almost certainly be longer. I would estimate 32 hours at least."

"So Ginny and Harry need to be holding hands for the next thirty hours or so then they can be normal?" Arthur asked.

"Unfortunately not," replied Dumbledore.

"How long then," he asked.

"I am not precisely sure," Dumbledore said. "Though my best estimate is approximately two weeks."

"Two weeks!" shouted Bill and Arthur.

"They can't be together like that for two weeks!" Arthur said. "How will they bathe, use the bathroom..."

"I admit that those will be problems," Dumbledore said. "And undoubtedly they will cause much embarrassment to both Harry and Ginny, but that is unavoidable."

"Why can't we just break the bond?" Bill asked.

"Because breaking the bond will kill them both," Dumbledore said simply. "The requirements of the bond are not to be taken lightly. Failure to meet them has serious consequences. Researchers at the department of mysteries have some evidence that actions that would result in the bond being severed would kill the bonded pair as their souls are pulled from this world to prevent the breaking of the bond. That is why using magic to destroy the bond will kill them. At the moment any physical separation causes intense pain. Later down the track they will need to have physical contact for several hours every day or they will become physically ill and eventually die.

"What you have to understand is that they have become very much like one person with two bodies; they simply have to be together and there is nothing that we can do to change that."

"So in effect they are stuck together on pain of death for the rest of their lives?" Arthur questioned.

"That is correct, though they will still have some independence," Dumbledore said. "The usual way that couples have gotten around the requirement for contact is to sleep together at night thus allowing them to act independently during the day." Seeing that Arthur was about to object he said. "There will be no sexual activity between them; at least not for another nine or ten years. Also you will not have to worry about Harry hurting her; the pair share emotions and thoughts at almost all times so her pain is his."

Slightly mollified Arthur said. "You said that this is the first stage; how many stages are there and what happens in each?"

"There are five confirmed stages that other couples have reached though it is theorised that there may be as many as seven. The first stage is when the bond stabilises and is characterised by fluctuations in the couples power and abilities; usually from below the basic level they revert to after this stage to the maximum they will reach. The second stage is where they require physical contact, starting at constant contact and gradually decreasing over time, for this bond probably the second stage will be completed within six months and will reach the level of needing only a few hours.

"The third stage gives them the ability to share thoughts and emotions, though these two seem to have taken it a step further and share memories too."

"That's why Ginny seems to know Harry so well," Molly said. "She has access to his memories, emotions and thoughts with that it would be easy to identify why he is acting a certain way."

"Exactly," Dumbledore confirmed. "The fourth stage allows the couple to share senses; sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Again they took it a step further and they also have aura vision."

Both Arthur and Bill gasped at this, "Is there anything they can't do?"

"From what they've shown there is very little," Molly said. "When I separated the two, they knocked me flying by accident."

"True," Dumbledore agreed. "Their magical cores have combined and grown considerably; they are most likely at least as powerful as me in shear magical power. Together they would be unstoppable."

Molly looked suitably surprised while Bill and Arthur sat there catching flies.

"The fifth stage is the limit of what we know; at this stage the couple are able to control each others bodies. We confirmed this by placing Ginny in a potion induced sleep and placing the body bind curse on Harry, who was then able to control Ginny and move her around before another fluctuation in the bond broke the connection.

"that is the limit of our knowledge of the stages. The other two theoretical stages are a mystery."

Silence once again reigned in the Weasley kitchen.

Finally Molly broke the silence. "What sort of changes do you think we will need to make?"

"In what way do you mean?" Dumbledore replied.

"As in what arrangements to cope with the new abilities that they have, like schooling?"

"If you are agreeable then I would like to train the two of them to control and focus their magic as it is now, in other words teach them wandless magic. I dare say that once Harry turns eleven then the two of them will be able to go to Hogwarts together.

"in the mean time; they will need to wear these," he held up two chunky bracelets. "These will contain their magic and prevent them from doing any damage."

"But those are the things prisoners in Azkaban wear!" cried Arthur. "There is no way that either of them will wear those!"

"If they lose control of their magic they could injure or kill anyone around them," he replied flatly. "They have power on the same scale as my own but with none of the experience and training in controlling magic; all it would take is a powerful emotion, most likely fear based on their responses to the effects of the bond, and they will unleash power that would do severe damage to anything and anyone around them. I assure you they will only be on for a day or two, no more. As soon as I make arrangements for them to learn to control their magic I will remove them."

"I still don't like this; from the sounds of it Harry has effectively been in prison for the past five, nearly six years," Arthur replied stubbornly. "Now you want to put him back in another one."

"Admittedly it is most definitely not an ideal solution but would you prefer them to lose control and hurt one of the others? There is a real risk; you saw at the hospital how they set they bed on fire with their magic and they knocked you across the room. Could you imagine them setting the house on fire with the children in it? Or knocking one of their brothers into a wall with enough force to shatter most of their bones? It is the lesser of two evils." He finished firmly.

Arthur looked at Molly and she nodded but had tears in her eyes.

"Will they affect the bond?" Bill asked.

"No," Dumbledore replied. "The bracelets only inhibit magic from escaping the body, the transfer would be continued and so the bond kept safe as they will be in physical contact as long as they have the bracelets on."

The three weasleys nodded but looked as though they were about to be sick. They hated that they had to treat the two children almost as if they were prisoners, just to make sure that the rest of them would be safe. They had to admit to themselves though that the risk was there and the pair were children; they had no experience as Dumbledore said and would do damage that they didn't want to contemplate.

"Bill can you get them?" Molly asked.

He nodded and left the room. As he walked out into the hallway to the stairs there was a knock on the front door. Arthur went to answer it.

"Ah hello Kingsley!" he said. "I take it you're here to collect statements?"

"That I am," he replied in his deep calm voice.

"They should be coming down now; was it just the kids you wanted?" Arthur asked.

"No, I would need to get a statement from your wife and possibly, William I believe it was? who kept the muggles under control until we arrived."

"Certainly, they are all in the kitchen through here," Arthur replied ushering him inside and towards the kitchen.

"Ah Molly, and Albus good to see you," Kingsley said. "I wish that we were meeting under more pleasant circumstances."

"You and I both," Molly replied.

The two kids at that moment walked into the kitchen, hand in hand. Harry immediately shrank back a bit at the sight of the tall dark skinned man who had just taken a seat at the table. To him everything about the man screamed toughness; both physical and magical and as usual in the presence of a formidable man Harry concentrated on making himself as small and insignificant as possible. Ginny realised this and quickly started calming him; it was obvious to those present that Ginny was the only person Harry truly trusted. He always was panicked at the sight of people who were angry or aggressive and Ginny was the only one who could calm him even when the person had shown themselves to be friendly.

"Ginny and Harry I take it," Kingsley said. Both nodded. "My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt; I am here to collect statements from the two of you, Mrs Weasley and most likely William as well. You just need to provide answers to the questions as truthfully as you can, no more no less. Do you both understand?"

"Yes" both intoned. Kingsley stared in shock at the voice that they way they both sounded together but he simply shook his head a bit and continued.

"Shall we begin?"


	7. The strings broke

"I think we are ready so yes," Molly said.

"Very well," Kingsley replied. "We will start with Harry shall we? As he is the victim in this case he should be able to provide the clearest picture."

"W-what do you want to know?" Harry asked.

"I need to know everything that they did to you," Kingsley replied. "I know that it will be hard but you can take as much time as you need; we're in no hurry. Start with how they treated you as far back as you can remember."

"I remember asking about my parents," he whispered. "They told me they were useless people and so was I. They told me not to ask questions and threw me in my cupboard."

"Cupboard? Did they put you there when you were bad?" he asked.

"Yes," said Harry. "They put me there whenever something weird happened. They never explained why."

Kingsley made a note.

"What was your room like?" he continued. "Did you have many toys or other things to play with?"

"That was my room," Harry said and Kingsley did a double take. "They didn't let me have toys; they said that I wasn't allowed to have any. They would always take away anything I got."

"The healers said that you were not eating properly," Kingsley said clearly looking disturbed. "What would you usually get?"

"Some crusts and water if I was good. They sometimes gave me a piece of bread to have at lunch when I was at school; apparently one of the teachers said something."

"Was that breakfast lunch or dinner?" Kingsley asked.

"Which ever it was when they gave it to me that week," Harry said.

"_WEEK?" _he cried. "How often per week would they feed you?"

"Two or three times if I did my chores and wasn't locked in my cupboard," Harry said shrinking away slightly at Kingsley's raised voice. Ginny responded by pulling him closer and Harry relaxed a bit.

Molly leaned over to whisper in Kingsley's ear. "Don't raise your voice around him," she said. "He said that he always got hurt when people raised their voice around him." Kingsley nodded trying to get a hold on his emotions.

"What happened if you didn't do your chores," he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Sometimes they would yell and make me do them again and more," Harry said in a small voice. "Sometimes..." he trailed off shaking slightly while Ginny blanched at the memories that were going through his head. Harry clutched his stomach and curled up slightly.

"Did they hit you often?" Kingsley asked quietly. Harry didn't answer. "Harry?"

He nodded.

Ginny spoke up. "They would hit him if he didn't do his chores right or if he didn't do them fast." She said. "Sometimes his uncle would hit him when he got home from work and say that things were his fault. Sometimes he would hit him if he got better too fast."

"How do you know that? Did Harry tell you?" Kingsley asked.

"I saw what he-" started Ginny but Dumbledore interrupted.

"Ginny and Harry share a connection," he explained. "I won't go into the details but it lets them share consciousness to a degree in addition to shared memories. She remembers everything Harry does and vice versa."

Kingsley looked shocked. "So everything she says that happened to him really did happen?"

"We can see no reason for her to be lying so yes," Dumbledore responded amiably.

"You see everything in this job," Kingsley murmured. He looked up at Ginny, "Could you clarify some points Miss Weasley?"

"Clarify?" she asked looking confused.

"He means explain dear," Molly said.

"Oh," Ginny said understanding lighting her face. "What points are those?"

"The things that his uncle blamed him for; what were they?"

"When a deal went bad or someone had an accident," she said. "He would get angry at Harry, and would get his belt and hit him. Sometimes when he was hitting Harry, Harry would fall down and wake up in his cupboard."

"How long usually passed before he woke up again?" Kingsley said, really dreading the answer.

"Sometimes the next day sometimes longer," Harry said quietly rejoining the conversation.

"What was the longest?"

"A week I think," he said. "I kept waking up and going back to sleep again when I was in there, I don't know exactly it was dark and it hurt..." he trailed off.

"What sort of injuries did you get?" Kingsley asked trying to hold in his temper and the urge to apparated back to HQ and kill the muggles on the spot.

When Harry looked like he wasn't going to answer Ginny spoke up again, "Sometimes his arms or legs wouldn't move," she said to the horror of the listeners. "Sometimes they were bent wrong and it hurt him to move them. Sometimes he hurt in his chest like he was at St Mungos and he hurt to breathe."

Molly stood up and walked outside. Everyone watched as she conjured a life sized wooden model of each of the Dursleys and proceeded to perform several pieces of magic that left the males wincing and vowing never to cross Molly Weasley again, even though Arthur had seven children, Harry wasn't watching and Dumbledore was too old. She walked back in sat down and said "continue."

Kingsley took a few seconds to gather himself and look through his notes. "You said that he would be hurt if he got better too fast; the healers mentioned that his magical drain was potentially the result of healing many minor injuries. Can you explain that please?"

Ginny looked confused for a second but Harry spoke up again. "When I was hurt I tried once wishing that I would get better and in the morning I would be. Bruises always went away within a day or two but I was always tired afterwards. When they saw I was better they did the same things again and put me back in my cupboard for the week."

Kingsley decided that that was enough and said so. "I think that we should stop there," he said his voice shaking slightly and turned to Molly. "This is a report that the healers made of the injuries that Harry sustained as a result of the attack earlier today; it also includes your version of events that you described to the healers. It has already been signed by healer Symworth and Evernson so we have the medical knowledge of the injuries, we need you to read through it and sign it if that is what you saw so we can submit that as your eye witness testimony."

Molly read through the report turning green and red alternately as she read through the medical section and eventually signed her name at the bottom.

"That's everything in order," Kingsley said. "I will file a report to director Bones and charges should be laid within an hour or two."

"That's excellent Auror Shacklebolt," Dumbledore said warmly. "I will make sure that the Wizengamont resolves this case as a matter of urgency." He turned back to the children. "There is another matter that we need to sort out with you two and I am sorry to say it is not pleasant."

"We're not in trouble are we?" Harry asked nervously.

"No Harry," Dumbledore told him. "The problem that we have is that your magic is very powerful; too powerful. You probably won't be able to control it."

"What does that mean," Ginny asked. "I thought being strong was a good thing and we did magic before that we didn't mean to."

"That's right," Dumbledore said pleased. "But the problem is that your bond has made you so strong that your magic could hurt others if you got upset; what happened in the hospital was a good example. When the bed was set on fire and when your mother was thrown across the room. Those things if they happened here could get your brothers and parents hurt."

"What do we do?" Ginny asked with tears in her eyes. "I don't want to hurt Mummy or Daddy or Bill or Charlie."

"You will need to wear these," he said holding the bracelets. "These will contain your magic until I am around to help you to control it in a couple of days. It will feel bad but it won't be for long and I'll take them off as soon as possible."

"Those aren't Restrictor Bands are they Albus," Kingsley asked looking slightly angry.

"They are and don't get angry," he said knowing Kingsley was about to explode. "I have discussed this with Molly and Arthur and they have agreed, albeit grudgingly, for them to wear the bands for the next two days till I arrive so as to protect the rest of the family from high powered outbursts."

"I still don't like you putting those on children," Kingsley growled. "They are meant for the worst of criminals; like the Lestranges or other Death Eaters."

"We're not going to Azkaban are we," Ginny said frightened. "Please don't send us there."

"It's all right Ginny," Molly said. "You won't be going anywhere. You will still sleep and live here it's just that you will be wearing those."

"It won't keep us from speaking to each other will it?" Harry asked tentatively. "I don't want to stop that."

"It won't affect that at all."

Ginny and Harry looked at each other, nodded and stretched out their arms as if they were volunteering them to be cut off. Dumbledore reached out and slipped the bracelets, first onto Harry and then onto Ginny, muttered a Latin phrase and the bands resized so they were snug, but not tight.

Both of the kids gasped and recoiled. Both grabbed the bands and tugged and the bands glowed brightly before Dumbledore spoke up.

"I know those are uncomfortable," he began.

"They're horrible," Ginny said. "It makes me feel like I'm trapped, like something is holding me in place and I can't move. But I can still move."

"Me too," Harry piped up. He looked at Dumbledore, "Wasn't there any other way?"

"I'm afraid not," he said sadly. "The reason they keep your magic in check is they prevent it from leaving your body. This means that you still have magic and it is not diminished yet it won't actually be able to work outside of your body."

The bands began to glow brighter and Dumbledore's eyes widened.

"You need to calm yourselves," he said. "I know the sensation is uncomfortable but you need to relax. They are glowing because your magic is fighting against the wards and spells placed on the bands and trying to break them would be bad. Try to concentrate on each other and ignore the feeling for now."

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and closed their eyes. The glow quickly diminished and eventually disappeared.

"I'll be getting back to the ministry; have you notified the auror department that you have placed and activated those," Kingsley asked gesturing to the bands.

"Yes I have," Dumbledore replied. "I have cleared it with Amelia with some difficulty and they will be removed in two days time."

"Thank you, I'll see all of you at a later date and feel free to ask about this case if you're around at work Arthur, you obviously have an interest in the case."

With that Kingsley turned and walked out the door disappearing with a 'pop'.

In the kitchen Molly realised that she hadn't started dinner and immediately jumped up and raced over to the stove and began cooking.

Harry and Ginny were still sitting at the table and Harry suddenly looked up quickly followed by Ginny both looking worried and embarrassed.

"Dad," Ginny said. "How will me and Harry use the bathroom and have a bath? We can't let go."

"That is going to be a problem," said Bill. "They will need to hold hands the whole time."

"We can simply conjure a screen to prevent them from seeing each other," Arthur said. "That should solve the problem."

"But we can see through each other's eyes," Harry said. "We can't stop it or control it. We don't know when we will be able to see or not." He looked scared and dropped his gaze. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to cause trouble."

"Harry you aren't causing trouble," Dumbledore said gently. "This is a problem that arose from a difficult situation and you never wanted either the situation or the problem. So it is not your fault and you have nothing to apologise for."

_It's ok Harry,_ Ginny thought to him. _I'm not angry at you and neither are my parents or anyone else, at least not really; just try not to look and that's all I want._

_Thanks Gin,_ he thought back. _I don't mind if you see anything by accident, I trust you._

_Your welcome and I trust you too._

"Thank you sir," Harry said finally.

"You don't need to thank me Harry," Dumbledore said gently. "Just keep going and remember; if the bands start to glow brightly try to calm down and make the glow go away. I'll come back in a few days to get them off and then I'll start teaching you magic."

"Are we going to Hogwarts?" Ginny asked excitedly. "I would love to go!"

"No we won't be going to Hogwarts," he replied. "There are still some people at Hogwarts even though it is summer and we should keep your bond as much a secret as we can. Particularly as you are so young."

"Ok," Ginny said looking a little disappointed.

"Don't worry Ginny," Harry said. "We should be going to Hogwarts in a few years."

"Indeed you will," Dumbledore said with a smile. "By the time you are old enough to go to Hogwarts you will have mastered a fair amount of magic and will have good control. I look forward to teaching you. And now I must leave; wizengamont business must be attended to before I can begin with training. Goodbye Arthur, Molly your servant"

With that Dumbledore walked out the door and disappeared with a pop. The rest of the evening passed quickly with Molly quickly whipping up a cooked meal for the family. It will remain a mystery to the universe exactly how she managed to turn the food she had into a good meal that could be eaten by children without said children being under duress. Harry on the other hand had to be convinced that he didn't have to help and was allowed to eat more than a few bits and pieces.

"The healers said that you are severely malnourished dear so we need to feed you as much as you can hold," Molly said to him kindly. "You desperately need to get some meat on your bones. They mentioned a couple of potions that you could take but they would be a last resort; they would probably harm your magic if they were taken after you had been so badly hurt."

It was only at the urging of Ginny via their bond that he accepted and managed three helpings and didn't do all the dishes. Ginny managed to take control and make him walk out of the kitchen before her mother could hit him with a full body bind and drag him out. Molly thought that it was ironic though not even remotely humorous that where her children needed to be dragged away from the food to clear up, Harry needed to be dragged away from clearing up and practically force fed. She vowed that she would look to get the Dursleys the Dementors kiss when the issue came up in court.

While Molly cleaned up after the meal Arthur headed up the stairs to assist Harry and Ginny in their attempts to bathe and use the toilet before they went to bed. He was fighting a miniature battle with himself the whole way up the stairs, his sense of propriety that was demanding that the boy who was going to sleep in the same bed as his nearly six year old daughter needed to be flayed alive unless he was physically restrained. On the other hand his need to protect his daughter from the forces currently in play combined with logic was telling him that the said arrangement was the only way that Ginny could exist at all. In the end his propriety was satiated by the compromise and the knowledge that Harry was only six and so wouldn't do anything that he would have any reason to get angry about.

His decision was at least partially vindicated when Ginny and Harry were in the bath. Harry was very much embarrassed by the arrangements and it was obvious that he would give quite a lot to be somewhere else. A screen between them allowed their feet to touch and left their hands free to wash themselves while making sure that they wouldn't die of mortification and exposure (pun intended). Both of them reported that their bond had switched before they entered the bath and could barely feel each other's emotions and after where their bands began to glow as magic threatened to come out, lighting the room like a pair of miniature suns before they focused to control their emotions and magic.

The thing that Arthur found most shocking was the smoke coming off the bands after. He knew that those bands could hold the most powerful and skilled witches and wizards, containing their abilities so that they could not so much as light the end of a wand, let alone cause those restraints to light the room like that! He decided to ask Dumbledore about it when he arrives in a couple of days. _I can see what Dumbledore meant that their power needed to be contained, _he mused. _This is unlike anything I have ever heard of._

Harry and Ginny were curled up together on Ginny's bed, arms around each other and their foreheads pressed together.

_Do you think that everyone will be alright with us being linked like this, _Harry fretted. _It's so strange; I know from you that this doesn't happen to everyone and they looked like they wanted to break the connection. _His mind instinctively flinched at the suggestion, he couldn't bear to go back to the life that he had before after having someone who knew him like Ginny.

_I couldn't either, _Ginny thought back. _I don't know why they want to break this; it feels _right_! They don't know that we know each other better than I know my best friend, better than mum and dad know each other, or the twins and they do _everything _together. We'll just ha..._

"The link is going," Ginny whispered realising that Harry wouldn't be able to hear her thoughts like before.

Harry paused. "That's strange," he said. "I can't feel your emotions right now."

"I can't too," Ginny said.

"I wish that we could hear each other all the time," Harry said. "It's nice to know that you can help me whenever I don't know what to do. I like how you think."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"If our minds were linked you could see," he breathed back. "I don't know the words to say it."

"It's nice for me too," Ginny said. "I never really was able to talk to anyone except daddy. My brothers love me but they don't play with me. They always do things together and mum makes me do things with her."

Harry smiled. "I'm glad I got a friend," he said.

"Best friends forever." And with that the two drifted to sleep with their arms around each other and their foreheads pressed together.

Dumbledore was pacing his study, thinking. Everything had been going well in his plans; the Dark Lord had been vanquished temporarily some years before, the Death Eaters had mostly been rounded up and those that weren't were keeping a low profile, the Wizengamont was easy to deal with and Harry was in his place at the Dursleys. His placing of Harry at the Dursleys was a master stroke; it let him take the place as the figure-head of the light, kept him out of harm's way, made sure that he wouldn't get ideas of his own so he would accept Dumbledore's plans, the Potter will was safely sealed and Harry wouldn't know the contents nor would he get the opportunity and it made him more submissive and easier to mould into the martyr that he could use to end Voldemort once and for all. He was sad that Harry would have such a short life, but the prophecy was clear and the horcrux in his head clinched the deal.

He had planned on the Weasleys getting involved with Harry when he got to Diagon alley, or perhaps on the train. He could see that Harry and Ronald would most likely be friends and Ginny could be a girlfriend. He aimed to push Ginny and Harry together before the end of Harry's schooling and have Ginny get pregnant so the weeping widow and child of the martyr could live under his protection and finally drive evil from the world. It was a complex plan and he had been carefully moving his pieces for some time: using subtle legilimency to put the idea of Harry as a partner for Ginny into Molly's mind so she would accept the idea and push it subtly to Ginny. The typical star-struck nature of Ginny would help there and no one would suspect. He'd even nudged Ginny herself once when he saw that the fascination with Harry was waning.

Normally he abhorred such actions, legilimency on a minor and this sort of outcome wasn't what he wanted. The boy was innocent as was Ginny and there was much suffering in their way. The problem was that The Greater Good demanded his sacrifice and Ginny bearing both a child from him and the pain of Harry's loss. The political clout she would gain as well as the child would enable the next few generations to clean house of the corruption and bigotry in the ministry and take the wizarding world into a new era.

Now that plan was in tatters.

Harry was well aware of his status and had Ginny to guide him as well as Molly and Arthur as probable guardians. He was no longer going to be easy to mould into a weapon, would possibly develop ideas that would not be in keeping with The Plan and their power could make them independent. Not only that but Harry and Ginny would die together, there was simply no other way. There would most likely be no child to guide and no widow to point in the right direction, the soul bond would see to that. What's more, Harry wouldn't be able to go to his death without stiff opposition from Ginny and the rest of the Weasleys. They were people of the light, highly gifted as Bill, Charlie and Molly show and very well known. Quite apart from the lack of good manpower that would be lost by alienating them if they moved against them it could weaken the whole movement and allow the dark to slip through and win.

This soul bond was the crux of the matter; it tied Ginny and Harry's destinies together to tightly to fit.

_If the bond is the crux of the matter then it is the part that needs to change, _he thought.

Simply breaking it is out. As he had told Molly; that would be a death sentence for both of the two children. Could weakening it to the point that Ginny wouldn't die work? No with the strength of their bond it would take centuries of effort and he simply didn't have that long if it could work at all. He could see that there was no other way to counter the effects of the bond so he had to look at the other options and work with the bond.

There was the possibility of pairing off Harry with another girl to have the child but there were no suitable candidates and Harry wouldn't do that, Ginny would never allow it. Harry dying was fixed and so by extension was Ginny; he just needed a way for him to capitalise on Harry's fame and pass it to the next generation to begin the cleansing. It was time to scrap the old plan and start from scratch.

He popped a sherbet lemon into his mouth and began to plot.


	8. Peaceful morning

Harry and Ginny were once again floating in the space with the gold light again. The music still played but with a subtle difference that the two children in their distracted state did not notice. In the sky there was a symbol; two glowing spheres of gold with a green and brown band enveloping them and twisting like the mathematical symbol for infinity. There was discord however; the curve of the infinity was not yet complete and the sparks of the bands hovered without purpose above the centre of the band, in between the two spheres.

_I'm like that the bond doesn't jump around in here,_ Ginny thought. _it's nice to have you here._

_I like it too, _Harry replied as he sat down on the air. _This place is strange though. What am I sitting on?_

_Thin air, don't fall._

_Ha ha._

There were a few moments of just background thoughts as they sat not talking. To say sitting in silence would not be accurate as there would not be sound when they talked even if they bothered to use their mouths. Not that they used them in here. After those few moments Ginny 'spoke' up.

_You said that you would show me what this feels like to you. Show me why you like how I think._

Harry searched his brain for that feeling and found it easily, letting it flow through to her. The feeling of security, that with her he was safe and could let her into places taht he never knew he had, places that he didn't want to have and places he would never show anyone. He knew that she would always be there, the one thing in the world that would always be there and wouldn't hurt him.

_I like the way that you always look to what other people might want, _he thought. _you see other people and understand what they need to get, then try to get it to them. You don't judge and punish people, but you joke and play jokes on people to have fun._

Ginny was left stunned by what he said and the feelings that she'd received from him. He showed her that she was the only person that he could truly trust and he would trust those she trusted because she trusted them.

_I don't know what to say,_ she thought.

_I can feel it though_ Harry replied. _It's nice._

_So is what you're thinking._

They spent the rest of the time they were asleep reviewing the memories of their child hoods and showing each other whatever they asked to see. When Ginny asked about the schooling that Harry received the feeling of great sadness and sobs echoed in the spaces of their minds though neither had tears on their faces. Eventually they felt their world fade and feeling return as they woke.

Molly opened her eyes to face a new day. The summer holidays had begun and so all her darling children were back under her watchful eyes so she could protect and guide them. She always missed her three eldest boys when they went off to Hogwarts even though they wrote regularly. It took several seconds before she remembered the events of the previous day and the memories made her head spin. Could her baby girl have detected Harry Potter and brought her to him just in time to save him from death at the hands of his relatives? Could she have watched as Ginny and Harry formed a powerful bond that had never been seen on this level since Merlin? Could she have agreed to bind her daughter and bond mate with magic suppression bands that were used on the worst criminals?

Everything seemed so surreal and in the world of magic that was saying something. She got out of bed, being careful not to wake her husband and set off up the stairs, passed Bill and Charlies rooms, passed Percy's room until finally she reached Ginny's. Opening the door halfway she peered in to find her daughter in the arms of Harry Potter, their small bodies intertwining and their forheads pressed together like they could force their thoughts into each other's minds if they pressed hard enough. _Well they don't need that,_ she thought wryly. The bond had allowed them to do that without the need for physical contact, though their postures certainly gave credibility to her memories of the rest of the information Dumbledore had provided.

Seeing her only daughter sleeping, intertwined with a strange boy in her room would have had Molly in a fury but somehow the sight didn't affect her as she expected. It was something about the peaceful smiles on the faces of the two children; the way that they seemed totally content to simply lie there forever. That they, in spite of the position that they were in, were still totally innocent in the ways that would usually set her off, even though they would be hardly considered innocent in other regards. Ginny in particular, while being a master of the 'wide eyed innocent look', was never the less as good a prankster as the twins; in regards to being caught she was better. While Molly might suspect her daughter there was never any basis and Molly was always left with a hunch.

Shaking herself from her thoughts before she could contemplate Harry's past and go in to a rage at what the child had been through she quietly closed the door and started back down stairs. She glanced habitually towards the clock and noted with relief and satisfaction that all nine hands on the clock pointed to 'home'. She knew that the twins would on occasion sneek out of the house and go flying or get up to some sort of mischief and was pleased that they were still in their beds. She entered the kitchen and after consulting the watch on her wrist she decided to make herself a coffee before she got down to making breakfast for her brood.

Molly had always been an advocate for children being fed three well cooked meals a day and with good reason; she had once worked on becoming a healer before she decided to marry Arthur and settle down to have her seven children. It was fairly well known amoung the healing profession that magical children needed much more than a muggle of the same age, particularly after they turned eleven when their magic really started to bloom. In her eyes depriving a child of food was like trying to strip them of their magic; the greatest and most wonderful gift taht any child could be born with apart from a loving family.

Molly had always loved the peace that existed in the Burrow in the mornings. There was a certain tang in the air, the faint feel of the magic that pervaded the old home of the Weasleys. She remembered hearing that there used to be a manor house in the country, but that was razed completely over a century ago. The Weasleys had spent the majority of their savings after that building a new home in Ottery St Catchpole where it was named The Burrow by Arthur's father during the war against Grindlewald. The magic that had seeped into the walls from the bouts of accidental and controlled magic that had been let loose within the house over the century since it was built and the magic that had built it had given the house a strange and potent feel when there was no bustle of family to distract one from the resonance that thrummed throught the house and touched her magic. The magic of family and love. That was what pulsed through the house, built by several generations of large Weasley families and many friends who had entered to the warm atmosphere of love that had existed in the house.

Shaking herself once again, she glanced at her watch, one of her parent's last gifts to her before they died in a catastrophic cauldron explosion while working at the ministry. When she got up she realised there were two pairs of eyes watching her from the shadows in the hall, one pair chocolate brown and the other emerald green. Ginny and Harry.

"Morining Gin-Gin, Harry," she said smiling at the two. "Did you sleep well? How are you this morning?"

"We're fine mummy," Ginny spoke, her eyes while still tired held a large array of emotions; happy, annoyed, eager and loving, to name but a few. There were even some emotions that Molly had never seen on her daughters face and some she couldn't even name. This bond had definitely changed her.

"would you like some breakfast? I can quickly knock something up."

Harry hesitated and looked at Ginny, their expressions clearly showing that they were speaking with their minds.

"You're not back there Harry," Ginny said suddenly. "You never will be."

"I know," Harry said in a small voice.

"What's going on?" Molly asked confused.

"Harry always made breakfast with his relatives," she explained. "he always had to wake up early to get it ready for them and I told him you did it."

"I could do it if you want," Harry offered shyly.

"No thanks Harry, you don't have to do anything like that," Molly said silently cursing his aunt and uncle. "Now what would you like?"

"Bacon and eggs!" Ginny squealed. "Mummy makes the best bacon and eggs."

"Ok."

The rest of breakfast passed without much talk with the rest of the Weasley brothers coming down to join them at the table. The only interesting points for Harry and Ginny was the taste at the times when their bond changed while eating different things; the result being that bacon and pumpkin juice does not taste nice. What talk there was, all centered around Quiddich. Harry was confused at first though he quickly looked at Ginny's memories when the bond changed back to see about the rules and different points. He also came upon the plan she had been developing to learn to fly as her brothers refused to show her.

_We could both try to learn to fly once this bond stops us having to hold hands, _Harry suggested.

_That's brilliant, no one will know and we can really show my brothers; Bill and Charlie are both on the Gryffindor team at Hogwarts, _Ginny thought back. Harry had to take another peak to see what Gryffindor was.

_Yeah this should be fun, but will your mum and dad be angry? _He asked with a hint of anxiety.

_They wouldn't be too angry as long as we don't get hurt, we just need to make sure that my brothers don't see._

With their plan ready they simply ate in silence, only Bill noticing that they ate the same thing at the same time.

After breakfast Ginny decided to introduce Harry to exploding snap and they spent most of the morning enjoying the games with Charlie and Bill while Ron looked at his comics and the twins blew stuff up in their bedroom. Ginny assured Harry that this was perfectly normal. Their morning took something of a down turn when Dumbledore once again came through the floo with bad news.

"I'm afraid that I bring bad news," Dumbledore said gravely to Mrs Weasley.

"What's wrong," she asked fearfully, worried about what was going on that had Dumbledore looking grave.

"The Dursleys have been brought up on charges and a session of the Wizengamont is planned to deal with the issue. However the issue of Harry's guardianship has come up; I have already put through a request for both of you to be Harry's foster parents until he reaches adulthood. Unfortunately Lucious Malfoy has also thrown his name into the ring."

"WHAT?" she cried. "We can't let Harry live with a death eater! And there is no way I'm letting Ginny live with that man!"

"I know that," Dumbledore replied. "And there is no chance of Harry living with them; the bond demands that both be together and if we reveal their bond you will certainly get custody of Harry. The only problem would be that Ginny would become a target and there would be much more publicity for both of them. There are still those out in the world that would do Harry harm which is why I placed him at the Dursleys; the blood wards there were the most powerful I've ever created."

"They did nothing to stop his own family from trying to kill him!" Molly yelled at him.

"I admit that they completely failed in that regard," Dumbledore said sadly. "However I didn't dream that Lily's sister would do such a thing. But we cannot deny that the blood wards were effective; there are seven death eaters currently in Azkaban courtesy of those wards, including the Lestranges."

The colour drained from Molly's face at the last name. "T-the Lestranges?"

"After their attack on the Longbottoms they found Harry's new address and made haste there. They destroyed the rest of wards that I put up before all four were incapacitated by the blood wards. Rabastan Clearwood also fell victim to them when Harry was four; he was rendered comatose and never recovered. While they didn't protect him from his family they protected him from the worst that Voldemort's finest could throw at him."

Molly had to take several breaths to calm herself after those revelations.

"As it is I have already placed the most powerful wards I know of around the property and I've been in contact with Gringotts, they're sending a team of warders to put protections around the property."

"How could we afford this," Molly said shocked. "The only wards we could afford are the basic ones we could do ourselves."

"Harry is heir to the Potter line and one of their biggest customers; if Harry is killed they lose his business and they may lose more. Protecting Harry is in their best interests and are providing this at cost, taking the amount out of Harry's trust vault."

"Exactly what sort of wards are they putting around the house?" Molly asked overwhelmed.

"Wards repelling all dark creatures and anyone that tries to do harm for a start. There are also anti apparation and anti portkey wards going up and only myself or the goblins can make a portkey in. The anti intruder wards are also being strengthened and several other types of wards are being added. I will warn you though; these wards are not a joke. A person trying to break in could end up hospitalised or worse, so if you are having guests you will need to specifically invite them in."

Molly was once again shocked by the amount of effort going into the protections. "Is Harry really in that much danger?"

"We are not sure, though I will tell you this: Voldemort is not dead. He has lost his power and will certainly try to regain it but he is not dead and when he does Harry will be his number one target," Dumbledore said looking very serious.

At this Molly turned chalk white and had to sit down quickly.

"Back to the subject of Harry's guardianship, we must make a convincing case for the courts to accept yourselves as guardians without revealing Harry and Ginny's bond."

"Mum," came Ginny's voice from the sitting room. "Could you get Harry something for his scar, it's hurting him."

Both Molly and Dumbledore walked into the room to find the two eldest Weasley brothers along with Harry and Ginny playing exploding snap on the carpet. They noticed that Harry had one hand over his scar and Ginny trying to comfort him over the bond.

"You said that the scar is hurting?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes sir," Harry said. "it happens every few minutes when the bond gets stronger, like it's burning."

Dumbledore frowned. "You said every few minutes, as in the bond changes every few minutes?" Both Harry and Ginny nodded. "and this morning was the bond changing faster or slower than now?" there was a note of trepidation in his voice.

"It was slower," Ginny said. "Only every ten minutes or so and last night it was only twenty minutes."

"Oh dear," said Dumbledore looking very worried.

"What is wrong?" Molly said anxiously. "Not another thing that goes wrong?"

"I'm afraid to say it is," Dumbledore said gravely. "We must go immediately."

"Where?" Harry asked looking scared and guilty at Molly's words.

"The ministry of magic."


	9. The crowd

"What's in the ministry," Molly asked. "Why do we need to go there?"

"There are experts there in the department of mysteries, Unspeakable that specialise in the magic of love and the soul," Dumbledore replied his voice containing a tone of urgency. He knew that if the bond broke now his plans would never be able to come into fruition even half formed as they were. "That book that I showed you in the hospital; that came from the department of mysteries. I know a lot about the magic at work here but the people there are the best."

"But what's wrong?" Arthur asked.

"The increased frequency of the bonds fluctuation means that the bond is destabilising and will eventually break," Dumbledore replied his voice grim. "From the symptoms it might have something to do with the failed curse that hit Harry on Halloween."

"Could the bands be doing this?" Molly asked.

"No this is beyond the influence of the bands; as I said they only contain the magic they don't stop the flow altogether. This is something else."

"So they can fix this?" she asked desperately.

"If anyone can they can," he said firmly.

Both Harry and Ginny were scared. They didn't understand most of the words that Dumbledore had said but they understood enough to know they were in trouble. They knew that if the bond broke both of them would die; neither of them wanted to die, nor did they want to lose their new best friends. They clung to each other as Molly dragged them to the fire and grabbed the floo powder.

"you two and Dumbledore first," she said desperately as they squeezed in and Dumbledore shouted, "Ministry of Magic!" and they disappeared in a blaze of green smoke still holding tight to each other.

Both of them fell clumsily out of the fire place at the ministry with Dumbledore somewhat more gracefully climbing out with them and immediately he started pulling them toward the lifts on the other side of the atrium. Despite the situation Harry couldn't help but be awed by the spectacle of the ministry's main atrium. Hundreds of witches and wizards walked through the space, heading towards fireplaces to leave, an apparation point in a corner or a set of gates and lifts at the far end. Harry reached out to Ginny and together they absorbed the sights of the atrium and the vast plethora of different things to look at and listen to. Dumbledore quickly dealt with the security guard, convincing him to let them pass without the checks as they were kids and travelling with Albus Dumbledore. Harry and Ginny's nerves were frayed and they held each other in fear, hoping that their close contact would keep the bond going and their thoughts were a tangled mass. The lift was relatively empty though it was very brightly lit from the glow of the restrictor bands, their fear and anxiety making their magic want to break loose.

"Keep calm Harry, Ginny," Dumbledore said soothingly. "There will be a solution to this problem, I promise you."

"But what if there isn't," Ginny asked her voice breaking from a small sob that she barely stifled. "I don't want to die. I don't want my Harry to die, we just met and he knows me and he doesn't push me away like my brothers."

"There will be a solution," Dumbledore said. "Your bond is the strongest on record; there must be something big to hurt it and that makes it easy to see. When we see it we can get rid of it and you can go back to how it should be."

"Do you promise?" Harry asked tentatively.

"I promise."

They fidgeted as the lift descended in to the bowels of the ministry, with tinkling music playing through the ceiling and owls perched around the top.

"Why do they have owls," Harry said curiously.

"They carry memos," Dumbledore said. "Though the mess is appalling."

"Why not just send the paper?" Harry asked. "You can make it fly there can't you?"

Dumbledore looked at him in surprise. "You know I've never thought of that," he said with a chuckle. "No one did. I'm sure there is a simple charm that can make the papers send themselves. Quite brilliant Harry."

"Part of the idea came from Ginny," Harry said shyly. "I just put it together."

"Well done both of you." Dumbledore said as the lift stopped and said, "Department of Mysteries."

"Come on you two," and without further prompting the kids hurried down the hall behind the elderly wizard. They turned and opened a door in the hall that looked totally unremarkable and stepped into a circular room with doors all around the sides. When the door they came through closed the walls started spinning around and around making Harry and Ginny very dizzy.

"Department central," Dumbledore said clearly and the spinning stopped and a door right in front of them opened. "Come," Dumbledore said simply, walking through with the children trailing behind him.

In this room there was a sphere made up of at least a dozen other spheres and what looked like tiny people walking around between them. In the centre was what looked like a miniature copy of the room they were in, complete with copies of themselves and Dumbledore. Dumbledore walked towards a set of desks with groups of people clustered around them, everyone looking up to see the people who walked in.

"I need to speak with experts in soul and love magic immediately," Dumbledore said to the group at large and several people stepped forward and pointed their wands at the sphere where several of the inner spheres lit up and doors appeared in the walls nearby.

"What do you need professor?" the one in the front asked in a neutral tone of voice with just the slightest hints of curiosity. Her voice was clearly feminine but definitely not girly, more of a high melodic voice that sounded like she was constantly singing. She towed them towards one of the doors and gestured to the people who had come through them to follow, Harry and Ginny tagging along wordlessly. They were understandably intimidated by the strange things that they had seen the workers at the desks dealing with when they passed close enough that they could see anything.

"We have a problem with a newly formed soul bond; the bond is destabilising quickly," he responded gravely.

"How is that possible?" one of the others asked. "How old is the bond? What stage are they at?"

"The bond is exactly..." he checked his pocket watch. "Twenty three hours and forty three minutes, give or take a few seconds. They are still at the first stage."

"Where are they?" another asked and Dumbledore gestured to the kids. "Them? But they're only children! They couldn't possibly form a soul bond at that age!" he cried.

"I have checked the book of bonds, they're in there," Dumbledore said.

"Carmick," the first to speak and for this she was presumed to be the leader, said while the others consulted in whispers. "Bring the book of bonds." The said man hurried towards a door and disappeared through it, returning less than a minute later with the same book that Dumbledore had brought the previous day.

"They're in here," Carmick said. "'Harry James Potter and Ginnevra Molly Weasley, soul bond', they are bonded."

"When I was called this morning by Molly and Arthur Harry was complaining of pain in his scar and when questioned they revealed the fluctuation frequency had increased from twenty minutes the previous night to less than five minutes as of ten minutes ago," Dumbledore put in.

"What grade were the fluctuations to?" another asked.

"Late fifth level," he replied and every worker gasped. "They also exhibited enhanced abilities in previous levels such as aura vision and total memory sharing. Possibly the ability to rejoin if needed but that phenomenon could be put down to accidental magic. Harry was able to take control of Ginny's body while Ginny was under a dreamless sleeping potion and Harry under a full body bind."

All the workers looked shocked before one spoke up, "have they slept yet?"

"Yes why?"

"Because when unconscious together the couples usually form a mindscape where they converse and otherwise exist until they awake," he said. "This sometimes shows an indication of their bond in some way; be it a symbol, a scene, colours whatever."

Everyone looked at Harry and Ginny. After a brief moment of consulting Ginny spoke. "There was golden light everywhere and there were two balls of light. They were green and brown. There was a ribbon of colour around them but it wasn't complete."

"Could you draw it for us?" Dumbledore asked handing her a quill and parchment.

"Yes," and with that she drew the balls and the ribbon of light. What startled the Unspeakable was the frayed and ripped end that Ginny drew curling up above the two balls and back down again.

"It looks like the Eternity Rune," Carmick spoke up. "But it's incomplete."

"Yes," another agreed. "But only soul magic can interfere with a soul bond. We'll need to take an _animus quaero_ test."

A third Unspeakable walked toward a set of shelves on the walls of the room and took what looked like a sheet of plastic out. He/she they couldn't tell, brought it over and positioned it in mid air behind the couple.

"Stand very still," Carmick said and he and two others pointed their wands at them and spoke a series of incantations in Latin and some older, eldritch language. The pair glowed and shone shafts of light out behind them, passing through the sheet. After a minute they stopped, leaving everything seemingly as it was before. He pulled a small bottle from his robes and poured a single drop onto the sheet and murmured a phrase. The sheet glowed just like the kids had done and patterns formed on the surface before the entire sheet dissolved. In its place was a small depiction in 3d of what Ginny had drawn, though in colour and with several pieces that she had missed in place.

Now clearly visible was a black tar-like substance at the break that scattered the substance of the ribbon encircling the spheres.

"What is that black stuff?" a voice behind Ginny and Harry asked. They both jumped and turned around to see Molly and Arthur standing behind them.

"Evil," Dumbledore said grimly. "And I think I know what it is. I suspected something like this but hoped I was wrong."

"But what..." the leader of the team trailed off and his expression changed from confused to appalled. "Surely not even _he_ would go that far?" he asked looking at Dumbledore pleadingly as though asking him to disabuse him of the notion that he had thought up.

"I believe he went further than either of us could imagine," Dumbledore said with a note of disgust in his voice. He then pointed his wand at Harry and performed a complicated series of gestures. Harry turned pure gold with only his scar glowing with pure black which everyone present didn't believe was possible.

"Horcrux," Dumbledore said grimly. "It's interfering with the bond."

"Yes, "Said one of the people who hadn't spoken yet and most of them were looking green; one had even thrown up and hat to quickly clean the floor and his robes. "Evil like that would not be able to stand love like that and vice versa. Each is battling the other and neither can win alone."

"I'm sorry but what is a horcrux?" Molly asked. "And what does it have to do with their bond?"

"A horcrux is a name for a container which holds a piece of a person's soul," Dumbledore said sadly. "It is the most despicable magic imaginable and not just because of what you have to do to create one. To create one you must commit cold-blooded murder of an innocent and enjoy doing so. That creates a tear in the soul which a person can use to rip a piece away and store it in a container. Such ripping is indirect violation of nature and changes the person permanently. The objective of such a thing is to make the creator immortal, or close to it. A person who makes a horcrux is bound to this world and will survive even a direct hit from a killing curse. Our problem is that the only way to destroy a horcrux is to destroy the container beyond magical repair."

"YOU DON'T MEAN ..." Molly screamed.

"Harry yes," Carmick said. "That's the problem we face: if we leave it in the bond will break and the kids will die. If we take it out, the kids will die."

Harry and Ginny were clutching each other tightly and shivering with fear at the pronouncing that they were going to die.

"Y-You said that there would be a way," Ginny sobbed looking at Dumbledore. "You promised!"

"Is there any way to get the horcrux out without killing Harry?" Arthur asked. "Is there any way at all, there must be a solution."

There was silence apart from the two kids sobbing, both of whom were being comforted unsuccessfully by Molly as everyone thought through the problem to try and find some way out of the hole they found themselves in. Eventually one spoke.

"When a horcrux is created both person and vessel must be prepared for several days before the killing and binding right?" he asked.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied trying to see where this was going.

"So Harry must not have been prepared correctly for the implanting, otherwise he would have succumbed to possession years ago. If the bond wasn't formed correctly..." he trailed off.

"Then we may be able to sever the bonds between the host and fragment without killing the host," another Unspeakable finished.

"Would that work?" the leader asked.

"It's our only shot," he replied. Everyone looked at the Weasleys and Harry.

"What's going on?" Molly asked.

"We think that because the process for creating a horcrux was not complete, we may be able to get it out without killing Harry," Dumbledore said.

"What are the risks?" Arthur asked.

"If it goes wrong it could be fatal," Dumbledore admitted. "Though there really is no other choice; doing nothing would have the same effect as failure. Worse in fact as it would be drawn out and painful."

Molly and Arthur looked at each other stricken. Their youngest child and only daughter was facing death and it was a choice of certain death via long and painful methods or probable quick and possibly painless. They were completely out of their depth but they knew what they had to do. They had to give their daughter her best chance of survival and that meant going ahead and trying to remove the soul fragment. Unable to speak, they both nodded with tears in their eyes.

"Harry? Ginny?" Dumbledore asked gently.

"Will it help Ginny?" Harry asked.

"It's the only chance you have," he replied sadly.

"We'll do it," Ginny said.

"We should go to the room of death," Carmick put in. "We can send the soul fragment through the Veil once it's out."

"Good idea, to the death room," the leader said and everyone trooped out another door. All three Weasleys and Harry had tear marks on their cheeks while the Unspeakable were a mixture of sad and impassive faces.

It took almost half an hour for the Unspeakables to set up a ritual of expulsion and do the necessary arithmancy to get the correct incantations. Ginny and Harry sat together with their parents while they waited, both of them trying to sooth the two kids fears even though inside they were breaking down themselves.

_I'm sorry Ginny,_ Harry thought to her. _I should have stayed away from you; you wouldn't be here if it wasn't because of me._

_It's not your fault Harry, I chose to go out to you and I chose to go with mum to the hospital. You're my best friend and nothing will change that._

Finally it was time and Ginny and Harry hugged Molly and Arthur.

"We love you mummy and daddy," Ginny whispered. "Never forget that."

"We love both of you too," Molly replied in tears again, knowing that she was saying goodbye in case they didn't survive. "Come back to us, and no bringing You-Know-Who back to play, you can't keep him." She made a poor attempt at a joke.

"We won't mummy," Harry said, noticing how strange the word was on his tongue and together the two kids walked towards the Veil.

"Stand in front of the Veil, but not too close," the leader instructed who had introduced herself as Sally Rosedine. "We don't want you falling through."

"What's through the veil?" Harry asked. "I can hear people behind it."

"It's the Veil of Death," she said gently. "On the other side are those that have died; once you go through you don't come back."

Both nodded and prepared for whatever lay ahead. Molly and Arthur stood to the side in case the kids needed an anchor during the ritual.

"Ready?" Sally asked. Everyone nodded. "Go."

All the adults began to chant in an ancient language, some simply repeating the same phrase over and over, others simply chanting nonsense to add tenor to the overall chant. Others spoke strings of ancient words which the children couldn't understand. The two stood where they were, silent and simply looking into each other's eyes, their arms around each other. As the chant progressed Harry began feeling a tugging at his scar and it began to burn, like someone had shoved a white hot branding iron into his skull and was trying to pull it out again.

_Stay with me Harry, _Ginny thought to him.

_I will, _he thought back through the pain.

The pain in his scar grew and grew until Harry couldn't contain it anymore and both children began to scream and clutch each other's heads. Harry's vision flickered and he convulsed, both kids sinking to their knees and blood running down Harry's face as the scar re-opened. Using what he could see of his own face through Ginny's eyes he kept their gazes locked. He felt something wet on his/her face and forcing his eyes to work again he saw that a cut had opened on Ginny's head as well in the same shape.

_If we don't make it I want it to end how it began; looking in your eyes, _he thought to her though wether she understood or not was not known to him. Both their minds were twisting in agony and thoughts were barely coherent.

Molly and Arthur watched on as the kids sank to their knees, crying out at the pain of the ritual. After a minute of screams which tore through the parents like knives, a green and black mist seeped from the scar on Harry's forehead. The mist formed a face, snakelike with red slits for eyes. With a final shout all the adults raised their wands and swiped their wands from the mist figure of Voldemort to the veil and with a scream of rage the shade soared through and did not come back out.

The two parents jumped forward just as the two kids went limp and keeled over onto their sides and lay still.

Harry and Ginny just managed to keep themselves awake to see the soul fragment that caused all this trouble fly through the Veil. As their vision faded they heard the voices behind the Veil.

"_You're so brave..."_

"_Don't be scared young ones..._

"_It's over now, rest."_

"_We're so proud of you..."_

"_Look out for Dumbledore; he's not what you..."_

"_She's perfect..."_

"_What is it with you Potters and fiery redheads?"_

"_Rest now dear..."_

Then everything went black.

When they woke they were in their golden place in their minds again. They looked around and saw that the surroundings were forming into a recognisable scene; Ginny's bedroom at the Burrow. There was her bed, half formed and intangible but still there and yet there were other things there that did not belong in her bedroom.

On the ceiling there was the symbol that they had seen before, but it had changed. Now where it had curled up in a mess before returning to the other sphere there was another ball it curled around this one also brown. The final shape curled over the brown ball on the right and dropped toward the bottom of the green one, curling around and up to the right of the top brown before looping around and down to the bottom of the right brown ball.

"That's the symbol that was there?" Harry said confused. "It's changed, there's an extra ball."

"One that should have been there and the horcrux blocked it," Ginny said. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know."

They continued looking around, there was a wall that seemed to both divide and open the room to another room, similar to the one that they were in but with some key differences. There was nothing magic in this room, everything was muggle. There was a hair dryer on the dresser and a quilt with ponies on it on the bed.

The biggest difference was that there was someone else in that room.

She was slightly taller than them, with bushy brown hair and brown eyes. She was looking around seeming scared and calling for her mum.

"Hello?" Ginny called back to her.

"W-Who are you?" she stuttered. "What are you doing here? What happened to me?"

"I don't know what happened to you," Harry said. "I'm Harry Potter and this is Ginny Weasley, my best friend."

"I'm Hermione Granger," she said. "I was with my mum making lunch when I started getting a head ache. My mum took me upstairs when it got really bad, I was screaming and my head started bleeding. Something was being pulled out and I was scared and then it stopped. Everything faded and went black. Am," she faltered and looked even more scared. "Am I dead? Are you angels."

(A/N and we said "nay we are but men."

Sorry couldn't resist adding that)

"I don't know," Ginny said. "We were trying to get a spirit out of Harry, an evil man left a bit of him in Harry when he attacked Harry as a baby and we got it out."

"Our heads were bleeding like yours was," Harry took over. "And the same thing happened to us."

"Are you a witch?" Ginny asked curious.

Hermione burst into tears and buried her face in her hands.

"What's wrong are you alright?" Harry asked.

"W-why do you say t-that," she sobbed. "E-everyone s-says things to me. Teasing me, h-hiding my books. Why do people h-hate me? They always say that w-when something weird happens around me."

"We don't hate you," Ginny said looking surprised. "When you say weird things happen, what things?"

"Like when Jessica stole my book it flew back to me and when Lauren pushed me and I pushed her back she flew back ten metres."

"You can do magic too!" Harry cried happily. "Things like that happened to me as well."

"T-they did?" Hermione asked looking up.

"Yes, once when I was being chased by my cousins gang I was suddenly on the roof and I have no idea how I got there," Harry said.

"Until you met me and mum and we told you," Ginny said.

"Then why did you call me a witch?" she asked.

"Because you are one," Ginny said. "And so am I."

"Really?"

"Yes, a witch is a girl who has magic, I'm a witch and Harry's a wizard."

"Oh," she said. "Now what happens?"

"Usually we wait in here till we wake up," Harry put in.

"Aren't we awake," Hermione asked confused.

"No we're in our minds, its part of our bond," Ginny said. "Hey do you think that Hermione will be in our bond as well? That would be great! I'd love to have a girl as a friend like you are," she said to Harry.

"What bond?" Hermione asked.

Ginny then explained the soul bond to Hermione, how it works and how long it was for.

"So you two are bound together forever?" she asked. "And you can hear each other's thoughts and memories and see through each other's eyes?"

"Yes, it's nice to have a friend who really knows you," Ginny said. "He knows all my secrets and will never share them. He will always be there and will never hurt me."

"That would be nice," Hermione said and a tear started to form again.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked again.

"I-" she faltered. "I don't have any friends."

"We'll be your friends," Harry said. "I didn't have any before I met Ginny either, my cousin saw to that." He finished the last piece as a mumble.

"Why would your cousin do that wasn't he nice," Hermione asked.

"Nice? Him and his aunt and uncle tried to kill him," Ginny said fiercely.

"They didn't..." Hermione gasped looking horrified.

"They did and would have done if mum and I hadn't been there, we took him to hospital and he almost died," she sobbed at the last words. "We bonded there, that was only yesterday."

"What happened to his relatives," she asked.

"They were arrested," Harry put in quietly. "The trial should be fairly soon."

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said. "What about your parents."

"They were murdered when I was one," he said. "All I remember is a green flash from when he tried to kill me too."

"Oh my god," Hermione whispered. "I- I just don't know what to say, it's so horrible."

"It is but I've got Ginny and the Weasleys now," he said.

They spent some more time talking about Hermione's parents who were dentists and the rest of Ginny's family. Eventually however the golden glow of their surrounding began to fade into white. On the cold stone floor Harry and Ginny opened their eyes.


	10. Meet the parents

Seeing her daughter collapse screaming in agony in front of her was the second most horrifying moment of Jane Grangers life. She had only had a light head ache but it had turned into fits of convulsing and screaming with her powerless to help. The most horrifying came after thirty seconds of screaming when she stopped screaming and stilled. It was a few seconds before she realised Hermione was not breathing and a check of her vitals showed her heart had also stopped. She screamed for her husband to call an ambulance while she tried to resuscitate her but after three rounds of compressions she was thrown backwards by some unseen force.

When she got to her feet she saw Hermione lying as still as she had been before but with a golden glow surrounding her that prevented her frantic attempts to continue first aid. She was still trying a minute later when the ambulance arrived and after a couple of attempts managed to slip a stretcher under her to take her to hospital. Riding in the back of the ambulance watching her daughter twitch but not breath; a halo of light shrouding her and preventing anyone from touching her was tearing her apart. Her daughter, her precious Hermione needed her and she was completely powerless to do anything except watch and wait. Watch wait and pray that she would be alright.

The hospital was a blur of people asking questions as they ran her through the emergency department and coloured lights of machinery that they tried to attach. Every machine went haywire once it went near her. They couldn't even link up a heart monitor to get her vitals. Eventually one of the doctors fed a stethoscope through the halo around her and laid it against her wrist. There was silence as he listened and her blood ran cold as he frowned. She opened her mouth to ask but she couldn't; she couldn't ask the man if her little angel was gone.

"Her heart beat is..." he paused, confusion reigning supreme amongst surprise and a faint trace of annoyance. "Her heart sounds fine, when it beats. There is no pattern to the beats; they seem random with periods of up to ten seconds or more of nothing and periods of flat out beating. The single most baffling thing is the static; there sounds like a bad radio is playing in her skin."

He looked up at her, "how did this happen?"

"I don't know," she said her voice breaking. "She complained of a head ache just a minute before and I took her up to bed. Just as we were walking towards the bed she just collapsed." She stopped to gather herself. "She was screaming and I couldn't do anything and I tried but nothing worked and she wouldn't stop screaming and..."

"Stop," the doctor said firmly taking her hand, trying to calm her. "You did everything you could. Now take a deep breath and tell me what happened next."

"She was screaming for thirty seconds, she was twitching and writhing like she was being tortured," again her voice broke. "Then just as suddenly as it started she just stopped and went limp. I saw she wasn't breathing and checked her but couldn't find a pulse." Once again she was overcome with the pain and fear that the recollection of the memories brought. "I started compressions but suddenly..." she broke off and gestured at the halo that was only now beginning to fade.

Just then the door opened and a dark skinned man in robes walked through and stopped looking shocked at the glow surrounding the girl on the bed.

"What's happening here? How did she end up like this?" he asked his low voice tight with the surprise of seeing Hermione like that. His mind immediately jumped to the descriptions of Harry and Ginny's bond that he had heard from healers the previous night and had been described by Dumbledore when he had talked to the man later. _Could this be happening again?_

"Who are you?" demanded the doctor who was there. Kingsley waved his wand and the man simply looked at Jane, said "I'll be right back," and left.

"My name is Kingsley Shacklebolt," Kingsley told Jane. "Can you tell me how she ended up like this?"

"She just collapsed and started screaming and then this came up," she replied her voice breaking.

"Was the shield like this before? Or was it fully corporeal?" he asked.

"What?"

"Was it more defined," he clarified. "Was it like how it is now; fuzzy and sort of out of focus or was it almost solid looking."

"Solid do you know what is going on, is she safe?" Jane asked desperately.

"I'm not sure," he replied and with a wave of his wand sent a silvery jet out that disappeared through the wall. "But I assure you I will try to make sure your... daughter I presume she is?"

"Yes her name's Hermione," Jane told him.

"I'll make sure that she comes out all right," Kingsley assured her as a silver phoenix flew in and spoke to them.

"Harry and Ginny are the same; bring them both via portkey to the Department of Mysteries, Room of the Veil."

Jane looked stunned. "What was..."

"There is no time to explain, is your husband here?" he asked.

"Yes he's filling in paperwork," Jane replied.

"I'll be back soon," he said and turned tail and walked through the doors.

Jane sat at Hermione's side and stroked her hair, glad that the halo around her had disappeared and her breathing and pulse were normal again. The only indication that anything was different was a faint crackle of static as she stroked Hermione's hair and her state of unconsciousness.

"Jane dear do you know what's happening? Is she alright?" Daniel Granger asked as he walked into the room with Kingsley.

"No but I hope this man will help us find out," she replied.

Kingsley tapped a small rubber glove and murmured, "_Portus," _and it glowed blue.

"If you would just tough this thank you and keep a good hold on Hermione," Kingsley said.

"And what will this-" Dan started but was cut off when his world dissolved in a whirl of colour.

At the same time that Hermione was being driven to the hospital, all the adults in the Department of Mysteries were clustered around the two children who they recently exorcised the soul fragment from. The department medics had done a sterling job of trying to revive the kids, their hearts having stopped for several minutes before restarting along with their breathing but were impeded by a globe of magic that had burst out of them, completely shattering the bands that they wore.

"Those bands were supposed to be unbreakable," one of the workers said in disbelief. "I know because I helped make them, we tested them against the Gringots curse breakers. A team of twelve went at them for a week before they cracked one open and they were to a man passed out for several days afterward. How in the name of Merlin did two kids break two of them at once?"

"These two are beyond what we have seen before," Dumbledore said sagely. "I believe you are familiar with the power of soul bonds? These two have a stronger bond than any seen before."

After that the adults all talked about the wards on the bands, the power of the bond and any side effects that might come from the horcrux's removal. They all kept a close watch on Harry and Ginny who were wrapped in each other's embrace, the only sign that they were alive being their breathing and occasional twitch or shudder.

Arthur and Molly were talking to Dumbledore and another worker when Molly asked a question that she had put aside the previous afternoon.

"What was all that about music? When Albus brought that book in the kids were going on about music but we couldn't hear any."

"Music is the language of our soul," the worker who had informed them her name was Maria Elmswood answered. "What they heard was their combined souls rejoicing in their union, something sounds unbelievably beautiful. The same sound is heard in the room of love; the sound of the souls of those in the room singing. We are not allowed to spend more than two hours a week in that room; there are some who have been driven to near insanity by the sounds, sounds that no earthly instrument could hope to replicate."

"How did they hear it," Arthur asked.

"The book contains an enchantment that enables it to detect such bonds and reveal them to the bonded when they are near."

"I must say this is a fascinating subject," Dumbledore interjected. "There is little known about the soul itself and some of the darkest and foulest things affect the soul itself."

"Yes, horcrux's and the Dementors kiss being the most foul," Maria said. "It's also a little known fact that the Killing Curse affects the soul as well; the magic disrupts the connection between the soul and the body causing the soul to leave the body and with no anchor the soul departs. That is the reason it is unblockable: as soul magic, only soul magic could counter it."

"Then how did Harry survive as a baby?" Molly asked.

"I have a theory," Dumbledore said. "It is because of that theory that I placed him at the Dursleys, even with the blood wards."

"What is this theory?" Maria asked. "We have been eager to study The-Boy-Who-Lived for years."

"I believe that Lilly Potter invoked ancient magic when she died, part soul magic and part blood magic that reflected the curse," Dumbledore said. "I believe that it was that magic that prevented the blood wards from failing when Lestrange attacked, she certainly had the knowledge to break the wards but they held."

"What..." Maria asked then stopped. "Loves sacrifice?" she asked.

"Yes."

"What's Loves Sacrifice?" Molly asked.

"It is when a person willingly chooses to die in the place of another and has the option to leave and not die," Dumbledore said. "The sacrifice is blood magic and the love required is soul magic and would be enough to repel the curse."

"If it was her dying for Harry that did it why aren't there more cases," Molly asked. "I know I would die for my children and others must feel the same."

"True but the difference in this situation is that Lilly was offered a choice, something that usually doesn't happen particularly with Voldemort. Usually they may give their lives for their children or loved ones but they didn't have the choice to walk away unharmed. That choice was the key element."

At that moment a patronus soared through the wall and spoke quietly to Dumbledore.

"Impossible," he breathed. He rounded on Maria, "get the book of bonds."

"Why?" she asked.

"I think that things have just gotten more complicated."

She looked bewildered but nonetheless left to fetch the book, returning a minute later and handing the book to him still looking perplexed.

He opened the book to the page that Harry and Ginny's bond was on, read and frowned looking amazed. He raised his wand and sent a patronus out before turning back to Maria.

"We need to have a portkey come through the wards," he said. "There will be four people in total."

"Why? Dumbledore what is going on?" she asked.

"We have something else that has never been seen before," he replied showing her the book.

Written there on the page were the same words as before but there were additions.

Harry James Potter and Ginnevra Molly Weasley. Soul Bonded 16 June 1986, Hermione Jean Granger (partial) 17 June 1986

"Another person!" she cried and the room went silent just in time for the portkey to place Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hermione and her parents in the middle of the floor. As soon as the four materialised Hermione, Harry and Ginny all began to glow and the three lifted off the floor. They floated to the middle of the room and there was a glowing golden band that formed around them in the same shape that they had seen on their scans but with the part that flowed up encircling Hermione and being solid rather than scattered.

"Hermione!" her mother cried trying to get to her. "What's going on?" she asked sounding scared.

Fortunately for the woman's sanity the trio floated gracefully to the ground. Immediately Jane raced forward and grabbed hold of Hermione before being restrained by two of the Unspeakables.

"LET GO OF ME! THAT'S MY DAUGHTER! LET GO!" she screamed before being silenced by Dumbledore.

"Please calm down, we couldn't let you take her away from the other two because it could harm or kill both, particularly at this stage and with the surrounding circumstances. Please stay calm and we will explain everything."

After several minutes and a glance to see that Dan was similarly restrained she calmed down enough for Dumbledore to remove the charm from her.

"Ok we'll start with the basics," Dumbledore began. "This may take some time to tell as there is a lot to cover and there is quite a lot that we are not sure about and don't understand fully. First off the most basic thing is that magic is real, you are currently in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries."

"What is this rubbish?" Dan barked still angry from before. "Magic isn't real."

"How did you come to be here? Haven't strange and inexplicable things happened around Hermione that don't' make logical sense?"

Dan and Jane looked thoughtful for a second. "There was one time when her cousin didn't want to give her her books back and threw them on the roof but she got them back and turned her cousin fluorescent orange for a day, she looked like an Oompa Lompa."

"Magic, Hermione is a witch," Dumbledore said.

"How dare you!" Jane cried.

"In our world, witch is simply a term for a female with magic, nothing more or less," Dumbledore explained calmly. "What you had seen is accidental magic; uncontrolled outbursts from when a child experiences strong emotions like happiness, anger or fear. These are all totally natural and ordinarily we would let you know of the existence of our world when Hermione is eleven, old enough to attend school and get her first wand."

"School? What sort of school?" Jane asked quickly.

"It is a boarding school in Scotland of which I am headmaster," he said. "The schooling lasts for seven years, choosing electives in third year, taking their Ordinary Wizarding Levels or OWLs in fifth year which decide which subjects they continue with. Then are the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests or NEWTs at the end of seventh year which determine what careers you can choose, but we digress.

"The reason that you were brought here is because of an unheard of occurrence. There appears to be a three way soul bond forming between the children."

"What is a soul bond," Dan asked.

"Essentially it is the joining of two souls," Maria said. "Not the simple linking in marriage but the physical, for want of a better word, fusing of the souls into a new soul with the two individuals making up parts of the whole. This usually has several requirements such as physical contact and trust between the two involved but provides an experience beyond imagining."

"That's all well and good but what is so special about this?" Dan demanded. "And what does it mean for my little girl?"

"What is so special is that there are two completely new phenomena in this case," Dumbledore took over. "For one there is the three way connection; no bond in recorded history has been three way. The second is that the bond with Hermione is partial and we have no idea what differences if any are there and the future of the bond."

"So you called us here to tell us that Hermione is stuck in this bond that you don't have the foggiest about and she's a witch?" Jane asked snippily.

"We don't know for sure," Maria pointed out. "However we are the experts and we can predict likely outcomes and potential problems. That is what we have to discuss."

"So how did this all come about, start from the beginning," Dan said.

Dumbledore then explained with some help from Molly and Arthur how Molly had rescued Harry from his relatives and foiled their murder attempt, the revelation of which left both grangers horrified and appalled. They went on about the formation of the bond and the connection formed before explaining the power the couple held and measures they took to control it. Finally they moved on to the discovery of the horcrux and the ensuing ritual to banish it through the veil which seemed to somehow form the bond to Hermione. Needless to say, Dan and Jane were both overwhelmed by the story.

"What I don't understand," Dan said after a final pause. "Is how Hermione managed to be pulled into the bond? This is supposed to require close proximity at least and she was miles away isn't that right?"

"True we don't know for certain though we have a few theories," Maria said. "The first theory is that Harry has two soul mates and the removal of the horcrux made his soul find Hermione's and start the bond. This we don't think is very likely. The second theory is that Hermione is Harry's true love and their souls connected after the horcrux was banished."

"True love but you said that was Ginny," Jane pointed out.

"No Ginny is his soul mate, there is a slight difference," Maria corrected. "A person is believed to only have one true soul mate; they are the ones that can naturally form a soul bond. The problem most people have is that their soul mate is usually born at a completely different time and it is almost impossible for them to meet, if not impossible full stop. So most people find a true love who is a close second and on rare occasion a true love can form a soul bond if the two change enough to match."

"And what does this have to do with us?" Dan asked again.

"What I think happened is that the soul fragment had been part of Harry for so long that its removal badly damaged his soul. It needed something to heal it and Ginny having been affected by Harry's wounds was not able to help so Harry's soul sought out the only other soul with a chance to heal it: Hermione's. His soul called and hers answered, she healed his wounds and joined her soul to his. You might want to liken it to a wound in you world, having something cover it like a false skin, the false skin bonds to the skin, it's the same here. The real crux of the matter is that this is the soul equivalent of having both arms and legs ripped off so the bond is very strong."

"There was that much damage?" Molly asked faintly.

"Yes, the bond forming and the effort required to heal made their bodies shut down for a while which is why their hearts stopped," Maria replied. "This theory is the most likely and fits with the established laws that we know of."

Three simultaneous gasps pulled their attention back to the three kids who were now looking at each other, taking deep breaths. They made no other attempts to move apart from moving their heads around.

_Where am I? _Hermione asked through the bond.

_The Ministry of Magic, they must have brought you here when they realised that you were in the bond with us, _Ginny answered.

_This is great; will you still be our friend Hermione?_ Harry asked eagerly but with a hint of trepidation, worried that she would reject him.

_Of course I will, where else could I get two friends who really know me? _Hermione replied and they could all feel the joy coming off her.

"Harry? Ginny? Hermione? Are you OK?" Molly asked as she scrambled over.

"We're fine mum," Ginny said. "The bond seems much better and we've got Hermione in it as well! This is going to be so fun! We each got two best friends in two days!"

"She's right Mrs Weasley," Hermione said. "This is really nice having them both know me and I know them and we all help each other if we're sad and we're always there for each other it's really nice. Do you know why this happened? Do you think that we would need to sleep together?"

"Slow down princess," Jane said soothingly trying to stop Hermione's eager babbling. "You're babbling again. She always babbles when she's nervous or really excited," she commented to the Weasleys.

"Tell us about your bond," Dumbledore said. "What did you see and feel when you were unconscious?"

"We were in these two rooms," Harry began. "There was that strange symbol on the roof but with three balls instead of two-"

Hermione continued without missing a beat. "I was in another room, Harry and Ginny were in a room of their own. Mine looked like my room at home and theirs looked like Ginny's room. There was a wall in between the rooms and I was scared at first, but then Harry and Ginny came in and they told me about the bond and magic-"

"And we all talked about our pasts and how we would keep going after this," Ginny finished.

"I think the wall resembles the fact that this is not a full bond, but has that potential," Maria said. "Harry and Ginny are in the same room because they are just two parts of the whole individual, Hermione is still a separate individual but the connection could make them all one if they want."

"So Hermione could be in the room with us?" Ginny asked eagerly. "That would be great! We would be fully together then!"

"I'd like that too," Hermione said. "I want to be part of this as well; it just feels too nice to stop."

"What do you mean it feels nice?" Jane asked.

"Well I can feel their emotions, they like having me as a friend and it feels nice that they can see me and not a source of homework," she said sadly and Harry and Ginny held her tighter with their free hands. "Just like that, they saw that and helped me. They like _me _and don't care I'm just a buck-toothed bookworm. And when they are happy I feel happy which makes them even more happy."

"We like the magic as well," Harry said. "Without those bands it feels like a river in us, and it gives us so much energy. I just feel like hugging both of them all the time. It's so great!"

"Magic feels wonderful," Hermione agreed. "I've never felt so alive!"

"That's all well and good but could you please put us down?" Maria asked. None of the people there had noticed that they were now twenty feet up.

"They really are strong if they could do that without noticing," Molly said.

"We'll need to control it," Dumbledore said. "We can't have kids running around with that much magic and no control."

"Not the bands!" Harry, Hermione and Ginny all cried at once in the same voice.

"What the hell!" Dan gasped. "What was that?"

"They can control each other to a certain extent," Dumbledore said. "We need to see how much Hermione is getting from this bond."

The next half hour was taken up with the trio being tested in the abilities that had manifested themselves at the beginning with Hermione included. At the end of the testing all present were positive that the three of them were moving into the sixth stage but the manifestation of the stage was absent. Dan posed that maybe the sixth must be consciously used and not an automatic thing which got nods from all present.

"The final test we had developed during our research into squibs," Maria said. "It is essentially a measure of the magical power currently in the person. The average scores for muggles rank in the teens, squibs rank in the high twenties and low thirties. Magical children before they attend Hogwarts usually rank between forty five and ninety, teenagers between eighty and 120 and adults between 100 and 160." She cast the spell on Dan and Jane, scoring twenty nine and thirty respectively.

"That means that you could possibly do some basic magic," Maria said with some surprise. "The level you are at means that you wouldn't have detectable outbursts but you have enough to do basic spells like cleaning and household spells. It is a misconception that squibs are completely without magic, they simply don't have enough that they have the outbursts that parents look for."

She cast it at one of her peers and scored 147 and casting at Dumbledore scored 203.

"Now let's see what you score," Maria said to the children causing Hermione to sit up straighter and pay close attention like she was being tested and didn't want to fail. Harry and Ginny quickly calmed her down and got her to relax a bit.

The result was 449.

Total silence filled the chamber as everyone looked at the result in shock.

"How did they get to that level?" breathed Molly sounding as though she was about to faint.

"There are three of them and I doubt any of them on their own were weak," Dumbledore said. "What you get together is more than just what they are combined. Remember that the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. That is what we see here."

"So those three are the most powerful people in the room?" Jane asked shocked.

"Yes and it will only grow as they age, the bands that we used to reign in their power were shattered when they used some of their power. We tested those on Gringots curse breakers, it took a team of twelve a week to break it and they were exhausted."

"Can you give that to us again?" Dan asked looking confused.

"The best analogy would be a team of demolition specialists," Maria said. "Working to break down a wall for a week and using all their equipment and these kids just walk right through it and don't even slow down."

"Oh."

Finally the stages were finished and the verdict was written down as follows:

Harry Potter, Ginnevra Weasley and Hermione Granger (soul bond) abilities by stage.

Stage one: none (possible can count inclusion of Hermione Granger in soul bond.) current length of stage at twenty seven hours and counting.

Stage two: uncertain, possible ability to relocate to each other in times of need. Unconfirmed as couples unable to separate without pain, (Harry and Ginny) or extreme discomfort (Hermione).

Stage three: Shared memories in addition to thoughts, innate occlumency and legilimency that could be strengthened to unprecedented levels (Hermione not to level of bond mates when tested). Legilimency not to passive stage as yet.

Stage four: total sharing of senses, aura vision (Harry and Ginny: Level one; dishonesty detection, basic detection of personality and emotional history. Not security risk. Hermione: level two; dishonesty detection and basic personality detection.)

Stage five: able to seed total control of each other's bodies to another in the bond. Harry and Ginny able to control each other's magic.

Stage six: unknown as yet though definitely present. Possible conscious ability rather than automatic ability.

Stage seven: unconfirmed though still a possibility.

Looking at the report that was written up, all the Unspeakables made a vow to themselves: don't mess with these kids. They are the ones who will take the world by storm and they didn't want to stand in their way.


	11. Temper Temper

After the Unspeakables finished giving their report on the trio it was decided that they should head over to the Weasleys to have some dinner. They had spent a lot of time in the ministry and were undoubtedly tired; it had been an emotional day for all present. Harry, Hermione and Ginny were all excited to have their new bond mate(s) and were sifting through all the memories that they received from each other and discussing them. They compared likes and dislikes, treasured memories and bad times, (Harry had an unspeakably large number of these, much to his bond mates fury and horror) different skills and periods of accidental magic and their hopes and dreams for the future. Hermione and Harry were particularly excited when they looked through Ginny's memories of Hogwarts on the few occasions that she had been brought with Molly when she had to visit the school in addition to all the stories Bill Charlie and Percy had told about the castle.

It was Hermione who raised the point that the bond would make things difficult with living arrangements, both here and at Hogwarts. When they voiced this concern Mr and Mrs Granger protested loudly, particularly when they found that Hermione would need to sleep in the same bed as Harry and Ginny. Part was that they would not have their little princess in the house with them but most of it was that she was sleeping with Harry. After an hour of discussion, a considerable amount of persuasion, assurances from Dumbledore, Molly and Arthur, Ginny and most importantly Hermione herself that Harry would not do anything 'improper' and there was truly no other option they managed to reach a compromise. They agreed that the three needed the contact and allowed that but asked that the trio alternate living at the Burrow and the Grangers home in London. Dumbledore informed them that Harry would need to have protections placed around the property which when explained were agreed to.

Perhaps the most important conversation was between Dumbledore and the two sets of parents.

"I believe you asked once what happened to Harry's parents and our references to Voldemort," Molly and Arthur winced. "Or as most people refer to him 'You Know Who' or 'He Who Must Not Be Named'." Seeing their nods he continued. "Approximately seventeen years ago Voldemort started gathering power and followers. For several years there were signs of his movements, dark creatures stirring, mysterious disappearances and certain portions of the population started to alter their habits. Eventually he moved into the open, killing and torturing any who opposed him and for the better part of a decade the wizarding world was in a state of warfare. Unfortunately due to corruption and incompetence our side was losing; the ministry got started far too late, the Order of the Phoenix which was the only other active force opposing Voldemort was being taken apart one by one. Harry's parents and friends all joined and fought bravely, they were among the best there.

"Eventually when things seemed to be on the verge of collapsing I was interviewing a divination teacher when a prophecy was made." He pulled out a bag and drew a small stone bowl form inside.

"A pensieve?" Arthur asked surprised.

"Yes," Dumbledore replied. He raised his wand to his temple and pulled a silvery strand out and placed it in the bowl. "This is the prophecy," he said and poked the silvery liquid that filled the pensieve.

The silvery shape of a woman wrapped in shawls and beads rose and spoke in a harsh horse voice: "_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches, born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal but he will have the power the Dark Lord knows not. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born... as the seventh month dies..." (J.K Rowling Order of the Phoenix)_

The silence that followed the reciting of the prophecy was deafening.

"It means Harry?" Molly asked her voice no more than a whisper.

"At first it could have meant two boys," Dumbledore said. "But there is no doubt now that the child referred to is Harry."

"It said that neither can live while the other survives," Arthur said. "It's good Voldemort is dead then."

"Actually that is not the case as the horcrux in Harry proved," Dumbledore corrected gravely. "The presence of that horcrux is certain proof that Voldemort is still out there and will undoubtedly return."

"Does the prophecy mean anything though?" Jane asked. "There is so much that could be taken differently, it could already be fulfilled. Does vanquish mean kill or just send away? Does live mean actual life or a meaningful life? And does the Dark Lord mean Voldemort or another Dark Lord we don't know about?"

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "it is possible that the prophecy has been fulfilled but the point reason that I am taking all the precautions I have is that I know Voldemort's character; he only heard the first few lines stating that one with the power to vanquish him will be born as the seventh month dies, not that he would be marked or have power _he knows not_. If he were to regain his body he would undoubtedly attempt to kill Harry, if for nothing else than to show his power over him. He is vain, arrogant and evil beyond measure but he is one of the most powerful wizards in existence. Therefore he is not to be taken lightly."

"This is the main reason I placed Harry with the Dursleys in the hope that his mothers protection will at least keep him safe until he came of age. In that regard I made horrendous miscalculation, I failed to account for the hatred Vernon and Petunia felt for magic. I never dreamed it would go this far."

"Be that as it may, what is the power that Harry is supposed to have?" Molly asked with a disapproving look at Dumbledore.

"Love I believe," Dumbledore said simply.

"That's it?" Dan said incredulously.

"Love is a powerful force; it was Love that deflected Voldemort's Killing Curse, a feat that had never been performed before and it was love from which I weaved the blood wards around Privet Drive, directly saving Harry on several occasions. In this case I believe it is the love of his bond mates to him and from him to them that will serve him. As you saw the abilities they will gain are extremely potent, many of them can only be developed by certain people and others only by years of work. This bond will give him an edge that can lead us to victory."

"They will not be soldiers! They're only kids!" Jane shouted.

"No they will not be at least not yet," Dumbledore said. "But some day they will need to be."

Neither set of parents had any reply to that. After a few minutes discussing the logistics of the bond and accommodation arrangements the conversation ended with the Grangers and Dumbledore staying for dinner. The ensuing cooking and meal was a real eye opener for the Grangers as they saw the soup stirring itself, knives that sliced perfectly with no assistance and serving on bowls and platters that kept the food hot. Fred and George provided some entertainment with a prank on Percy that caused his food to run away every time he tried to cut it. Jane and Dan were amazed at what magic could do, not in some secret government building but in a home. The real delight was Dumbledore creating several more chairs, Arthur enlarging the table to accommodate more people and the dishes doing themselves afterwards while everyone talked and drank butterbeer.

Hermione was the centre of attention with the Weasleys and they talked at length about the differences between muggle and magical life, the bond that she had with Harry and Ginny, (Leaving out the fact it is a soul bond; they just explained it was a magical bond) sport and school. Hermione was very interested in Quidditch and shared her fantasy of flying around the country side on a broomstick, becoming ecstatic when Ginny showed her memories of her brothers zooming around the orchard on their brooms and the promise that she would get a turn.

All three sat at the table, Harry in the middle with Ginny on his right and Hermione on his left. Hermione had came up with them intertwining legs instead of holding hands so they could each eat with two hands and so they sat talking with all the Weasleys. After dinner the parents sat down with Harry, Ginny and Hermione to get to know those they didn't. Hours of talking later the three went to bed, all of them embarrassed by the way they needed to bathe, before snuggling under the covers. It was several minutes before the trio spoke.

"The bond has ebbed again," Hermione said softly, her arms draped around Harry who lay in the middle between the two witches.

"This time was different," Harry said. "I can still feel you emotions, but I can't get your memories at will like I used to."

"Do you think we passed the first stage?" Ginny asked.

"I think so," Harry said. "It's been," he checked his watch. "Thirty two hours give or take."

"So the second stage should be done in a few weeks?" Hermione clarified.

"Yes, that's what Dumbledore said," Harry confirmed. "I didn't miss the changes but I liked hearing both of your thoughts."

"Me too," both girls said at the same time.

"G-night, Hermione, g-night Ginny."

"Goodnight Harry."

Downstairs the parents and Dumbledore were still discussing their children and the wizarding world in general. They had already covered Hogwarts and the different types of magic that the kids will learn, both from Dumbledore and when they eventually went to Hogwarts themselves. They discussed what people do for a living and were now moving onto the economy.

"The economy is the part of the wizarding world that is most immersed in the muggle world," Dumbledore said. "The reason being that many corporations were founded in part by wizards or bought over the course of the centuries. Most of these businesses are owned by the Ancient and Noble Houses, the houses of Black, Bones, Longbottom, Greengrass, Parkinson and Potter."

"Potter?" asked Dan.

"Yes," Dumbledore said. "Harry is the heir to one of the oldest and most powerful families, both financially and politically. He will get the opportunity to claim his hereditary seat on the Wizengamont when he comes of age as well as having access to the family vault at Gringots."

"You mentioned the Wizengamont before, what is it?" Jane asked.

"It is a cross between the court and parliament," Arthur said.

"Arthur is correct in the essentials though it doesn't always perform the tasks of the parliament," Dumbledore corrected. "Its main purpose is to try criminals but also passes legislation that is introduced, though the ministry is usually the one to introduce it."

"Back to the financial side, to what extent do the ancient houses integrate with the muggle world?" Jane asked.

"It depends on the family, the Potters were renowned in being one of the most modern of the ancient houses; they while being pureblood have no prejudices against others and frequently marry muggleborns. They also like the best of both worlds; Lilly, Harry's mother, was a gifted witch who was researching ways to integrate muggle technology into magical environments. Magic and muggle technology don't mix well, the electricity tends to go haywire when around magical environments.

"The Potters were the most integrated in the muggle world, they had several cars and owned quite a number of businesses in the muggle world outright while having respectable stakes in others. That is in addition to the wizarding businesses of course. On the other end of the spectrum we have the Blacks; prejudiced and bigoted to a man and supporters of Voldemort. Both their sons were Death Eaters and it is thanks to Sirius that Lilly and James were killed."

"You talked about prejudice, what prejudice is that?"

"There are some families in our world who think that because they have long lines of witches and wizards in their ancestry they are superior to those of mixed decent like Harry or of muggle decent like Lilly and Hermione."

"Is there any basis for that," Jane asked, her expression ambivalent. She was curious and apprehensive as to whether Hermione would be at a disadvantage with the rest of the world, but she was also angry that people would think less of people because of their parents.

"None at all," Dumbledore and Arthur spoke at the same time. "In fact there is even some evidence that the reverse is true though that may be down to inbreeding in many families."

"Inbreeding?" asked Dan shocked.

"Yes there are many different families who are profoundly inbred. They value their blood purity so much that they only let them marry other pure blood families, thus there is only a limited pool of families to choose from. All the pureblood families are related in some way, though the Potters, Longbottoms and Bones' not so much; they are the most forward and least prejudiced houses though they to some extent have the upper class mannerisms. I know that Augusta Longbottom is very much an upper class lady.

"Back to the lineage issue; there is no evidence whatsoever that muggleborns are any better or worse than other witches and wizards. Lilly was one of the best witches I have had pass through the school before or since, bright and powerful to boot."

They proceeded to talk about the economy after settling the issue of lineage, revealing that Harry was quite a wealthy young man but couldn't access most of it for at least another seven years, having the option to become emancipated at fourteen as the last member of an ancient house. They explained Sickles, Knuts and Galleons before moving on to the advantages of magic vs. non-magical worlds. Both Dumbledore and the Weasleys admitted that in terms of progress in society and thinking muggles were at least a century ahead of the magical world and their technology was able to perform many tasks as well if not better than magic. Dan and Jane both admitted that wizarding technology and medicine was far superior as well as the study of the innate workings of the person were better understood.

Finally they touched on the laws and the statute of secrecy.

"Many of the laws are archaic by muggle standards and there are some that are different for the sole purpose of accommodating magic," Dumbledore said. "Usually polygamy is illegal in our world. However there is an underlying law that our society is based on: the laws of magic. Any laws that we set are secondary to the laws of magic and so should Harry, Hermione and Ginny wish to marry later down the track, much later, they would be permitted. Their magic has formed the bond and thus takes precedence.

"Other than that there are many laws that are biased, prejudiced or archaic. There is the concept of marriage contracts which are still practiced in our world for example and to some extent the Restriction on Underage Wizardry."

"How is that prejudiced?" Molly asked. "I thought that it banned all underage magical with a wand from practicing magic outside of school with only the exemptions for life threatening situations."

"That is true, in theory," Dumbledore said. "In reality however the ministry can only detect magic done around an underage witch or wizard, not the perpetrator. Thus those in magical households can do magic with impunity while those in non-magical homes are restricted. There has not been a single warning issued to a half or pureblood since its introduction. Those who are under the age that they can get wands, eleven, are largely ignored in regards to their magic use as it is uncontrolled. They only become involved if it is serious enough that they need to clean up afterwards."

"That's outrageous!" Jane shouted. "How can your society discriminate against people just because they aren't born in a magical home? And what about the magic the kids have already done?"

"That prejudice is left over from the medieval times and the days of the witch hunts and the implementing of the Statute of Secrecy. When muggles began to persecute witches and wizards en masse, we withdrew from society for our protection; we could not compete with mass firearms like we could with prior weapons. There were also troubles from muggleborns themselves; those who rejected the magical world and reacted much like the Dursleys," Dumbledore almost spat the last word like it tasted foul. "They spread information about magic to others and people tried and sometimes succeeded in persecuting our kind. The fear and distrust that was created then still exists today, and as they say, fear leads to hate. Thus we enacted the laws of secrecy and went into hiding, those who gain knowledge of our world who don't need to like yourselves have their memories modified to create a new situation that makes more sense to them and we leave the scene."

"You can erase people's memories?" Dan said angrily.

"Yes, though we only do so when necessary and only those who are able to do it properly are allowed to do so even then," Dumbledore said. "The charm can go badly wrong if done badly, yet it is the only way to protect ourselves. If we were to be found to exist people would ask for magical solutions to everything and we'd never get a moments peace. That and we would be studied to find what makes us magical, so it could be given to others or eradicated. That is the way of people: what they do not understand they fear, what they fear they hate and what they hate they try to destroy.

"And now it is late and I think that we should be getting you two back to your home." He finished.

Dan and Jane looked as if they wanted to ask more questions but they accepted and simply asked how they were to get home. Dumbledore replied that he and Arthur would side-along apparate them to their home and would get their house hooked up to the floo network the following morning so they could come around the next day as well. They were planning on showing the Grangers Diagon Alley before setting up a vault in Gringots. Molly watched with no idea what she was feeling as the Grangers, Arthur and Dumbledore walked out the door and disappeared with two 'pops'. Her daughter was alive and well but now there was another girl in the bond between her and Harry. Part of her was angry that Hermione had become part of what she felt was her daughter's, but she also was grateful for her for being there to heal them. She decided that she would treat Hermione like she treated Harry and Ginny, like one of her children because whether she liked it or not Hermione was here to stay and she couldn't change that.

Harry's eyes opened to their mind space once again and he was thrilled to see his girls waiting for him.

"I'm glad that we can keep this part even if we aren't in each other's minds all the time," Ginny said.

"This happens every time you're sleeping right?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Harry said. "I wish that I could hear you both thinking but that comes later. Just having you here is enough."

"We'll always be here Harry," Ginny said. "You don't have to worry about us going away; no matter how far we go we are your friends. Your best friends will always come back to you." With that she opened her arms and pulled Harry and Hermione into a hug.

Harry held both of them as they stood in silence simply holding their best friends and bond mates. He knew that they wouldn't leave but could never shake the nagging doubt that the Dursleys had left; that he was unwanted and unwantable and at any moment both will turn away and leave or he would wake up. He guessed time was the only way he could be sure.

They spent their sleep time simply talking about their parents and enjoying each other's company. They even decided to play a game of tag and spent most of their time chasing each other across the golden expanses of their collective minds. For Harry and Hermione this was bliss, neither having anyone to play with and no-one who would play with them if they did. Ginny also was happy, she finally had someone to play with, her brothers were fun but they mostly kept to themselves and played with each other. She usually joined her mother in the kitchen or played in her room but she didn't like cooking that much. She was decent at it but never had the drive to bake things though she really loved cookies. Now she had a girl to play with and Harry as well, both of whom liked her, knew her and what she liked and didn't and wanted to stay.

The fact that he was Harry Potter rarely occurred to her and when it did she only marvelled that the stories that she had heard were so right and so wrong at once. They always showed a hero who defeated evil at every turn, a person who never did wrong and was there for others. A hero who lived as a hero should, with a loving family who supported him after each adventure. The reality was different but the same, here was a boy who had received no love and had fought no evils since he vanquished Voldemort but was still a nice boy who was there for others. His family didn't bear speaking about but now she knew that it would be her and her family who would help him in his adventures. Finally their night was over and the gold faded into the light of a new day.

The next morning was a bustle of activity as Molly cooked breakfast again and a healer from St Mungos arrived with potions to help get Harry back to where he should be for his age. It had taken a few days to brew the nutrient potions and bone strengthening potions that would get Harry to where he needed to be and now he needed to take three a day with his meals. These helped boost the intake he got from his food and gave him some more by itself. When Jane and Dan arrived through the floo both fell flat on their faces.

"That was one hell of a ride," Dan said.

"Speak for yourself," Jane said. "I think I'd take a car over that any day."

"Still a car wouldn't have gotten here for hours, this took seconds," he retorted. "I can really tell the difference magic makes."

"True," Jane replied grudgingly. Spotting Hermione she asked, "How's my angel today."

"Great mummy," Hermione replied from her seat next to Harry. "It's was funny seeing the auras last night but we think we're to the second stage now."

"You are?" Molly and Jane asked together.

"We can't hear thoughts anymore," Ginny said with a hint of sadness. "But we can still feel what each other are feeling. And we've got our mind space still."

"Mind space?" Jane asked.

"When we sleep it's like we're awake in a golden place," Harry said. "There is always places to sit and talk and play. It's great and we can talk to each other in there."

"Wow that is interesting," Molly said surprised. "Could come in handy later. Still if you're finished you should get ready to go to Diagon Alley."

"Diagonally?" Dan asked.

"Diagon. Alley," Ginny said splitting it into the two words distinctly. "It's where all the real shops are and Gringots as well. You can really see our world there."

"Sounds like time to go..." she looked at Hermione.

"Shopping!" they both shouted excitedly.

"From what Ginny's seen there is a HUGE bookstore," Hermione continued excitedly.

"You really like your books don't you," Harry said to both girls.

"You have no idea Harry," Dan said shaking his head in amusement. "The only way I would ever let these two take me shopping is if I ban them from the bookstore till the end of the trip and limit their time there to an hour. The first time we went shopping together I spent three hours in the bookstore and never got to go anywhere else!"

"That's crazy," Ron said suddenly. "Books are boring. You should do something more useful like play Quidditch. No one likes a bookworm."

The atmosphere suddenly chilled to freezing, with the twins and the rest of the Weasley brothers apart from Ron discretely running from the room while Ron stood oblivious to the change. Hermione was nearly in tears from his words with several unshed in the corners of her eyes. Ginny was shaking along with Harry and the rest of the room while Dan and Jane both gave Ron death glares.

Seeing the room shaking and Harry and Ginny both looking daggers at Ron, Molly quickly hit him with a stunner, body bind curse and dragged him bodily from the room as fast as she could while Arthur bravely tried to calm Harry and Ginny.

"Harry, Ginny, angel, you need to calm down," he whispered soothingly yet urgently.

"He hurt Hermione," Harry growled and Ginny nodded. Arthur was astonished with the change in Harry; before when he was threatened he would cower in fear yet when Hermione was threatened he looked ready to not just go through hell, but kick down the door and give the devil a good hexing and trashing his house before coming back.

He also noticed that Hermione was starting to shake as well as their anger grew, amplified in the three of them, their emotions feeding off each other and quickly gave up.

"Run you three RUN," he said urgently. "Across the fields and let it loose but try to control it."

With that the trio sprinted hand in hand out the back door and over the garden towards the fields that surrounded the house. They heard Molly giving Ron a dressing down but ignored them, fighting to control their emotions and not noticing the smouldering grass that was left where their footprints were.

Inside the house Arthur was ushering everyone out and into the front yard, in an open area. He didn't know how bad this was going to be but given the readings from yesterday he knew that it could do some serious damage to the house and didn't want anyone inside if that happened.

They had barely assembled when the sky was lit up brighter than a dozen suns, all of them feeling their skin burning from the light and heat and all of them dropped to the ground with their hands on their heads. Arthur hastily erected shields around the party as the shockwave hit, shattering the windows of the Burrow and knocking off the top floor in totality, a wave of magic following as a cloud of dust and ash rose above the place over the hill where the trio had cut loose. The ground shook and the world blurred with the vibrations of the ground. He felt the wards that had been around the property for more than three generations shatter like brittle glass.

"Oh my god," Jane kept saying, she was numb from disbelief from her head to her toes at the sight of the cloud, eerily similar to the photos she'd seen of nuclear detonations. Dan was white as a ghost and only his military training had kept him upright. He'd seen blasts in tests as a soldier and even seen the effects of a Daisy Cutter concussion bomb but he'd never seen this before.

The Weasleys were all white at seeing the house ripped apart by a blast at least 300 yards away from it. Molly was frantic to get to her baby girl and make sure she was ok but she was so shocked she couldn't move. Arthur was also in shock, he had just felt the wards of his family home and the wards that Dumbledore himself had placed to protect them crumble and were blasted into a million shards by three children, he had felt them fall himself. All the Weasley brothers were dumbstruck by the sight, Fred and George finally silent and staring speechless, all pranks forgotten, Percy wasn't bossing anyone around and Bill and Charlie were just kneeling with their mouths open.

The party quickly got to their feet and ran towards ground zero, hoping that the kids were all right after that.

In the ministry of magic there was chaos. The Misuse of Magic office there were a couple of people who were injured when a massive surge of magic obliterated the monitoring instruments that detected under age magic as well as some other types of magic that the higher ups felt needed to monitored, especially among muggleborns. The fact that there was a reading beyond anything in history just before and the message that the wards of a ministry head of department were down led to Amelia Bones taking a task force of thirty aurors and a dozen of their best hit wizards to the Burrow to see just what it was that did that damage.

Cresting the hill the Weasleys and Grangers were treated to an astonishing sight. One hundred and fifty yards away the ground glowed red and flowed, having melted in a crater over forty yards across and 5 deep. At the centre the children knelt with their arms around each other, their bodies limp and leaning against each other. The air around them was glowing with a nimbus of light and the air crackled with magic, discharging itself into the ground that was rapidly turning to glass as they watched. The air was thick with dust and ash as well as smoke from nearby trees that had burst into flame and been ripped from the ground and torn to pieces by the blast.

Coming partially to his senses Arthur thought for a second and summoned the brooms from the shed handing them to his oldest sons and taking off. They flew above the molten ground and finally arrived at the centre of the crater, picking the children up gently and carrying them to the edge.

"Ginny? Ginny?" Molly cried desperately as Dan and Jane both frantically tried to rouse Hermione but neither got an answer.

A shout got their attention as they noticed a force of aurors and hit wizards advancing up the hill at a run with wands drawn.

"Arthur?" shouted Amelia as she came closer. "What happened? We got word the wards had fallen and... MERILINS BEARD! WHAT ON EARTH DID THAT?" she cried in shock upon cresting the hill and seeing the crater.

"The kids need a medic, now," he replied. "We can explain later."

A pop announced the arrival of Dumbledore who looked around with wand drawn before lowering it seeing that there was no threat.

"What happened here?" he asked. For the first time any of those present had known him he looked badly shaken and surprised.

"We can tell you after we know the kids are alright," Arthur said.

The healer finished his scans and looked up.

"Their magical cores show to be almost drained, all three of them. They have the worst case of magical exhaustion I have ever seen as well as the signature of suppression wards similar to those seen in the suppressor bands placed on prisoners. Apart from that the only thing I see wrong is Mr Potter is severely malnourished."

"We are aware of his malnourishment and he's on a course of potions to rectify that," Dumbledore said. "What we need to know is what caused the blast and what drained their cores like that."

Arthur proceeded to explain that there was no actual attack and Amelia sent the Aurors away, staying to here the rest of the explanation. He then told them how Ron had angered the trio with his thoughtless remarks and Harry and Ginny lost control of their tempers in defence of Hermione. Having sent them away from the house and other people when he realised there was no chance of calming them before they lost control he evacuated the rest away from the home.

Amelia sat stunned for several seconds before she recommended that the wards be restored to the point of covering the house from muggles and she would get the Muggle Worthy Excuse department onto feeding a story of a meteorite impact to the muggle press. She also told them that she was expecting a more complete explanation on how the kids had that sort of power and why they had the restrictor bands on before as well as informing them that the flash and magic wave had been felt in London.

All the rest of the group left for St Mungos to have their various injuries seen to and Dumbledore thought that there was the potential for the three kids to cause a lot of harm. He needed to control them and soon.


	12. An Englishmans home

The healers at St Mungos were all surprised to see Harry and Ginny again so soon especially as they had another witch in tow. It took a quick explanation about the basic requirements of the bond before they could be whisked off to a ward for diagnosis. After Symworth had waved his wand over the three kids a few times.

"They appear to be mostly in good physical shape," he said after a few minutes. "Harry is still malnourished but that wouldn't have cleared up in a few days. All three seem to have undergone some recent trauma that was at least partially physical in nature and there are decaying signs of dark magic in Harry though they should be gone in a few days. Could you shed some light on that?" he directed the last comment to Dumbledore who had accompanied the party to the hospital.

"There were some complications in Harry's curse scar. We needed to remove that magic which led to the bond to Hermione and the trauma that you mentioned. Now what about their magic?"

"Their magic has been severely drained from all three. They all look like Harry was two days ago, a severe case of magical exhaustion. What triggered this?"

"They had a large outburst of accidental magic," Dumbledore said simply.

"Large?" Madam Bones said incredulously. "Dumbledore they left a crater the size of the main atrium here! That's not large that's apocalyptic! The magical wave was felt even here!"

"That was them?" gasped Symworth. "They caused a wave on that scale from over two hundred miles? And Harry was recovering from magical exhaustion and all three from an exorcism ritual? Does this have anything to do with their magical flows?"

"Magical flows?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes their magic is in constant motion, flowing in a river from one to the other two and on from there. Normally witches and wizards give off a constant stream of magic that bleeds into the surroundings and can be absorbed by various objects. This is what makes old wizarding houses semi-sentient; the build up of magic absorbed over decades or centuries. With these three that isn't the case; the magic that should bleed out flows to the others and then on from there. Their bodies were becoming infused with magic before they let it out. That's not the only thing that's shared though."

"Please tell me this isn't bad," Dan pleaded.

"I'm not sure but the magical, psychological and physical scans show that each is getting a share of the others abilities but it isn't equal. Harry seems to have a higher concentration of magic, Hermione seems to have increased mind power from the other two and Ginny seems to be physically better, although much of their efforts are going into helping Harry."

"Mind, body and magic," Dumbledore muttered.

"The three elements of the person," Symworth agreed. "Bound by the soul to make a whole person. Each person has different levels of proficiency in all three; some are very good with their minds but not the others; some with good magic are not as smart as others; some are physically strong but not good with magic. These three appear to have their abilities compounded and intensified like they are..." he paused and looked at the kids who were still out cold on the bed with wide eyes. "Like they're one person." He looked up. "A soul bond?"

"Yes," Dumbledore said gravely. "I would like you to swear an oath that you will never tell another person of this unless it becomes common knowledge."

Symworth nodded and raised his wand. "I Meridian Arnold Symworth swear on my life and my magic that I will not discuss or share the knowledge of the soul bond between Harry Potter, Ginnevra Weasley and Hermione Granger with anyone who doesn't already know of it unless the bond were to become common knowledge. As I speak, so mote it be!" there was a flash of light that confirmed his oath.

"What was that?" Jane asked confused.

"A wizards oath," Molly said. "Essentially it's an oath that can be taken by any witch or wizard with a wand that names the conditions for the oath and the forfeit if broken. In this case the conditions are he cannot speak of the soul bond to anyone who doesn't know already unless it becomes common knowledge. The forfeit in this case is both his life and magic."

Jane's eyes widened and she choked.

"Yes it's that serious, and there is no way around it; if he breaks it he will die."

"If he dies why does he say his magic as well?" Dan asked confused. "If he dies his magic is useless any way."

"The best known is if he wanted to come back as a ghost, if you don't have enough magic you can't become a ghost. Also apparently there are differences after death though no one knows what they are if there is anything at all."

"So that is about as serious as it could get," Symworth said. "I can see why you would want this covered up. Shit would really hit the fan if news of this got out, as well as people knowing the weaknesses that they could exploit."

"Any way back to what you were saying," Jane said impatiently.

"Yes it seems that the bond is making the three into effectively one person; their strengths are being increased. I presume Hermione was very smart?" he asked.

"Very, she was always the best in school and we were looking at sending her to another school for gifted children or getting her moved up a year."

"Well it seems that part of Harry and Ginny's minds are enhancing Hermione's; Harry and Ginny are unaffected but Hermione is growing to be the real brains of the three. She seems to be tapping into the unused portions of Harry and Ginny's minds in addition to her own. It's the same with Ginny and Harry to an extent; Ginny's body is becoming enhanced, drawing energy from the other two while they are at rest and storing it and Harry is drawing magic in the form of those flows; the excess is stored and focussed when he needs it. They not only have more power than is usual, they use it more efficiently than anyone else could possibly do. Each will have an enormous potential in each area as it is but with their shared and enhanced abilities? They'll be unstoppable!"

"What sort of increases would we expect?" Molly asked.

"Hermione would be able to absorb and process knowledge at an astounding rate, probably increased memory capacities up to photographic or near enough and some serious skill in deduction and other mental faculties. Ginny would expect increased speed, strength, agility and reflexes. Not to the point of being super human but definitely well above average, probably comparable to a Lycan. Harry, well with what he had done previously he would be able to do what those three did today on his own with a little effort though these are only the possibilities suggested by the scans and I wouldn't treat them as given. Don't expect these increases just don't be surprised if they show themselves."

"And of course they can share their thoughts and memories as well as magic and physically help each other due to the bond therefore each has the combined power of the whole," Jane said awestruck.

"What do you mean?" Molly asked confused.

"The bond means that they share minds and magic directly and it seems that their bodies can be used by the others to an extent as well" she said. "If any one of them is exceptional in any one area then all three can draw on that potential in addition to their own. With the increases you mentioned..." she trailed off.

There was silence as all present digested this. They had seen what the kids were capable of but the thought that their bodies and minds would grow to match that scale was frightening, particularly as there were three of them!

"What's you recommendation for treating them?" Molly asked.

"I would say keep them sedated, their emotions seem to be compounded and prone to being released in magic. If they keep having emotional outbursts their magic wouldn't have time to regenerate and they would burn out their cores, so we keep them sedated for several days and make sure that they are kept calm until they learn to control their emotions enough that they wouldn't blow up the house every time they were offended."

"That would be problematic," Dan mumbled thinking about what would happen if they lost it in their home; there wouldn't be anything left!

"Why would they over react like that?" Jane asked.

"They could feel each others' emotions, that and they appear to be very protective of each other and would know exactly how Hermione felt so they got angry with Ron. They may be only children but they obviously want to protect their 'friends' as they see each other."

After a few more minutes of discussion the adults agreed to leave the children in hospital for the next two days to help improve their condition and Dumbledore proposed giving them Occlumency training to help manage their emotions and prevent them getting out of control like they did previously. Both sets of parents agreed and left, Molly and Arthur helping Jane and Dan to get back to their home in London. Jane put through the idea of moving closer together to help with travel for the kids to which there was much discussion with the Grangers looking into work that they could set up in the area and Molly and Arthur discussing if they could get a house in London. It was eventually put aside for the moment and they all agreed that they would look into possible options for each of the families to relocate if possible.

Dumbledore paced his study as he tried to come up with a solution to the problem that he currently faced; how to get Potter, Granger and Weasley under his control. The imperius was out; he wouldn't stoop that low and it was uncertain how they would react to the imperius if he did. Furthermore if he was caught his reputation would be completely ruined which he couldn't allow. Those bands were also out having seen what Harry and Ginny did to the first pair that he used it would be folly to do that. He had already arranged to include occlumency training for the three of them but that was just a stop-gap measure, even he couldn't keep his temper all the time and those three were children.

The biggest issue he had was the degree of power that they shared; they had each proven to be twice as powerful as he was and they were exhausted and still children for Merlins sake! He had seen what power had done to Tom Riddle and Harry had grown up in a similar if not worse environment. The seeds of darkness had been sown in Harry and he had to make sure that Harry stayed firmly on the side of the light. Staying with the Weasleys was a godsend in that regard and being soul bound to Ginny was better. The only problem was the muggle born; she was new to magic like Harry and could easily be swayed to the dark by her power dragging the other two along with her.

He knew that his previous plans were not viable, necessary or even possible now with the horcrux gone and this necessitated a complete reworking of his overall schemes. It was time to step back and look at the whole picture.

Things he needed; Voldemort gone for good and a new leader of the light that he could mould into the image that he saw and take the world into the next century without him. Harry would conceivably a new leader of the light without the horcrux that needed destroying yet he was already attached to his bond mates and there were the seeds of darkness sown so he wouldn't be a good option. That left him with the other option of the task falling to Harry's child/children. Ginny would die with Harry of course and he would be left to raise the child to be the leader of light and take over the wizarding world, throw off the restraints of the pureblood philosophy and embrace equality. Harry's as yet unknown donations to the order had enabled them to gain a good foothold in the ministry and another five or ten years of such investments would see them with enough power and enough laws in place to have the stage set to turn the wizarding world around.

The question of how to make this happen remained; the power that those three showed meant that in a stand up fight against Voldemort they would win hands down by the time they were seventeen. He needed the fight to be close so that the winner wouldn't survive, Harry because he wasn't suitable and the child that he sired would then fall under his control and Voldemort wasn't suitable for obvious reasons. That meant that he had to have Voldemort back sooner rather than later and the horcrux's gone before then. The two of them would be powerful enough by the time they reached Hogwarts he was sure even without the muggle born; with her and they would probably win so she needed to go. It was a pity he thought, she seemed to be a good witch and probably would have done much good but she had to go and preferably in a way the left Harry and Ginny distraught, weaker and despising the dark arts.

Then it hit him in a sudden burst of inspiration.

Severus had told him of a diary given to Lucius Malfoy before Voldemort vanished, saying that it was a prized possession and could open the Chamber of Secrets. He had also told Dumbledore that the diary reeked of dark magic leading Dumbledore to believe that it was a horcrux. He knew that if a person became attached to a horcrux it would absorb the person's soul and return the maker of the horcrux to life in the process. All Dumbledore needed to do was make sure Granger got hold of the diary and had her soul absorbed, then the new Voldemort would be destroyed, leaving the bond weakened, Harry and Ginny distraught and hateful of the dark arts and those who practiced them especially Voldemort. He even could get rid of Malfoy and a horcrux into the bargain! He knew that the soul bond with Hermione was weaker and a soul based attack could remove it without killing the other members, at least in theory. So his course was set: teach the kids the basics and stay away from combat skills so the battle would be more even, get the kids into Hogwarts and get Hermione the diary then plant the suggestion among the death eaters that Voldemort was becoming stronger and send some followers to look for him. If all went well, his plans would come to fruition in less than a decade. He sat down in his chair and got out another lemon drop, fantasising about the new world he would bring into being and forgot completely about the kids he would need to kill to do it.

Amelia Bones sat in her office at the ministry nursing a brandy and trying to wrap her head around the events of the day. She had come into work and had spent some time putting the paperwork together for a trial when there was a blast from down the hall followed shortly by a magical wave and people began shouting and screaming. Running out onto the main floor the DMLE she summoned the heads of the sub departments that were present. The report was surprising to say the least; a massive surge of magic that had obliterated the monitors at the Underage Magic office injuring several workers. In addition it seemed that the head of one of the departments', Arthur Weasley, home wards had been shattered by whatever had caused that wave. Her first thought was an attack; such bursts were hardly unknown during the war when ancient wards were broken but never on this scale. She immediately put together her force to meet whoever had brought the wards down head on.

On arrival she saw the Weasleys standing shell shocked on the crest of the hill and when she joined them she saw the reason; a crater that had obliterated the surroundings and three children unconscious and singed on the ground. The Weasleys had quickly alleviated her fears of an attack and she had sent the aurors and hit-wizards away to hear the explanation. Whatever she thought he would tell her was nothing like what she heard; that three children who weren't even the age to learn about magic had done so much damage because they lost their tempers threw her right off balance. To have it shown to be a three-way soul bond was yet another shock before the news that this could be common-place for each of them later had her reaching for a brandy.

_Everyone was saying that Harry Potter had powers beyond the ordinary, _she thought. _Little did they know that he now has two girls who are on the same level. I would be very interested with the things those three could do when they're older; especially when Harry reaches thirteen and can claim lord status._

Finally setting aside her brandy she finished the paperwork for the day's events and had a look at the coming trials when one stood out. A pair of muggles were charged with attempted murder of a wizarding minor. She hadn't seen anything like this in years and had a closer look. Ten minutes later she realised this had cleared up a fair few different matters she was curious about including how Harry had been starved, why he was staying with the Weasleys when Dumbledore had assured her he was in a hidden muggle location and how the bonds had formed. She then reached for the intercom on her desk; she had a hearing to preside over and she would see justice done and Harry right.

The next few days passed fairly quickly for both sets of parents; all of them had a lot to do. Arthur and Molly looked after their brood, rebuilt the top floor which just so happened to contain Ron's room, strengthened the house so it would stand up to another blast which seemed likely in the future and prepared the papers for the hearing that would decide Harry's eventual guardianship. It took the rest of the day to repair the house and reinforce it now the wards were back up. They had also hidden the orchard where the children played to avoid the muggles that were now swarming over the blast zone, trying to detect anything they could. Molly had almost had to physically restrain her husband from rushing over to the muggles to talk about plugs and aeroplanes.

In London Jane and Dan caught up with their work and arranged for some time off to deal with the kids. They also arranged some paperwork to have Hermione taken out of school and homeschooled for the non-magical system and to have Harry placed under their care. The last thing they needed was someone coming around and asking about Harry with them having no adequate response. They also got new furniture for Hermione's room so the three of them would be comfortable while making sure that Hermione had some clothes both at the burrow and at their house.

"You know it's hard to believe that just yesterday morning we had no idea Hermione had magic and everything was normal," Jane said. "Now Hermione is in a permanent relationship with a young boy and another girl, has apocalyptic magical powers, will develop a mind stronger than any the world has seen, eventually will have to fight an evil wizard who terrorised the world until a few years ago, will be attending lessons to keep herself under control and will eventually live as a witch in a completely different world."

"Not to mention that we could potentially do magic ourselves," Dan said. "I don't know whether to love or hate it."

"Same here. That three way thing is the hardest though, we were all prepared for Hermione to one day have a boy but we never dreamt that she would need to share him."

"True, if I heard that her boyfriend was with another girl I would advise her to dump his arse pronto. This one however; that isn't an option, I mean they are together even in their dreams. They can't even let go of each other without being in pain. How do we deal with that?"

"I guess we just go with the flow, if that is what Hermione is then we won't complain."

"Can I still give Harry the 'what are your intentions with my daughter?' speech? I want to see his face!"

"Not now, maybe when they're teenagers and you're a good boy."

Harry, Hermione and Ginny were all surprised that they had been in their mind-space for so long. Usually they lived the same amount of time in their heads as in real life so they knew how long they had slept, but this time they were out for a lot longer. In fact they were in there for more than a day and a half talking and sharing their time. They all loved how they didn't have to really sleep, they could always be together in this mind space and they spent many hours in there learning about the space itself. They learnt that they could organise their memories if they concentrated and even revisit them from whatever viewpoint they wanted. They also decided to make areas of their minds where they could hide their memories when Hermione remembered the ways the Unspeakables probed their minds when testing them and used painful memories as a shield. They used some of their worst memories of pain and loss as their first line of defence, feelings of fear and hopelessness as a second line and feelings of being apart as the final line. Ginny thought of the idea of having guards in their minds and they slowly built an entire landscape, shielded from the outside world by their painful memories while their better memories were kept in a castle inside. The end result was an impressive view by any standards; a swirling snow storm filled with spectres that resembled the soul fragment described by their parents that would confuse the intruders and fill them with fear. Once they passed through that they would come across a huge mountain range, with a fortress built at the very top, above the clouds. The fortress had no gate and the only way in was to sing the song of their souls that they heard when the book was brought in at the hospital and in their minds. The fortress was built of granite and obsidian with prisms in various parts to reflect magic back, reinforced by what Hermione said was called adamantium; a fictional metal that was said to be almost indestructible. Around it was a large mine field and various flying beasts from both memories and the depths of their imaginations.

Once inside the person would find themselves on a Penrose Staircase: a distorted two dimensional image that distorted the person's perspective so that the four sets of stairs rise forever without going anywhere. This was the part where the deceptions came into the fore; up above whoever was on the staircase there was a ball of energy that people would automatically assume was the memories they sought, when in fact they had to jump into the hole in the middle of the stairs. Once they did that they needed to coil the floor that they walked on into a mobius strip before they could access the memories. Harry and Ginny mostly just watched in a mix of awe, pride, amusement and interest as Hermione worked on the mind-space; it was her that did most of the work with Harry and Ginny adding their two pence every now and then. The sheer complexity of the landscape that Hermione built (she even put a small village with a temple to their bond in it) with all of them almost thinking they were actually there even when Hermione decided to add in another mountain in the distance (That was WEIRD!). Once they were done they sat at the top of their fortress and played, talked and generally enjoyed themselves until finally, after almost two full days they woke.

On opening his eyes Harry immediately recognised where they were; St Mungos. He moaned and sat up, making sure to keep hold of Ginny and Hermione's hands while he did so and looked around to see who was around and ask about their sleep. It was over a minute before a healer checked in and saw that they were in fact awake. After a bit of fussing they got given some water, food and the date, telling them that their assessment of how long they had been asleep was fairly accurate, only being off by a few hours. They were also told that they had been kept asleep so their magic could recover and they could try to get a grip on their emotions. All they needed was a quick check up and they would be free to go home.

When they finally reached home they discovered that the hearing that would decide whether the Weasleys would keep guardianship of Harry would be the next day and so they needed to prepare.

"It is almost certain that the judge, whoever they are, will want to speak to you alone Harry. I fear that we will need to reveal your bond to the judge at least at the hearing, though we don't need to tell Malfoy," Mr Weasley said to them.

"Isn't Malfoy one of those pureblood bigots you told us about?" Dan asked. "The ones who think our little girl isn't worth anything?"

"The very same, in fact we believe he was one of the leaders in the last war."

"There is no way we will let Harry go to him, if Harry goes Hermione will have to follow and she is not going near him!" Jane said viciously. "I don't care if I have to wring the necks of the entire high court to do it!"

"Get in line," Dan said in agreement.

"Quite," Arthur said. "Though in this case magic and the law are on our side; the ministry would not dare interfere in a soul bond especially as it is with Harry. If the press got hold of the fact that the ministry tried to break this, particularly if Harry gets hurt, I know that Rita Skeeter in particular would rip them to shreds before an angry mob does the same in the literal sense of the phrase."

"Be that as it may, you did say that these people don't truly care for the laws they make; they make them for others not themselves," Dan pointed out.

"Yes but this isn't like those laws that can be swept under the rug," Molly said. "These cases, particularly the Dursleys case would throw Harry into the spotlight. If he ends up hurt or dead so soon and it can be traced back..." she trailed off leaving the obvious unsaid.

Harry groaned at the thought of more attention, his learned instincts to keep a low profile coming to the fore and Ginny and Hermione weren't in his head to sooth his fears.

"It's ok Harry, the hearing shouldn't be long," Ginny said gently.

"Ok, but I want to be there when the hearing is in session, I'm not letting Hermione out of my sight around that man," Jane said grimly. "In fact, do you still have you service pistols at home?"

"Yep, still clean, loaded and ready like always," Dan confirmed.

"You have guns at your home?" Molly asked confused.

"I served in the S.B.S at one point and I still have my sidearms working. We can each have one on hand if things get ugly with him," Dan said.

"I don't think that will be necessary," Arthur said hurriedly. "There is no chance he would try to attack Hermione in the middle of the ministry."

"We will not take that chance," Jane said. "From your accounts that man is a rapist, torturer and murderer of the worst kind. I will have one of those guns on me regardless just in case; I'd rather put a bullet through his eyes than watch helplessly."

"Same here," Dan agreed.

"Ok then, but I don't think they will be necessary."

They kept talking for a few minutes before they gave everyone their meal and sent the kids to bed with the promise that their teaching would begin the following day after the hearing.

The next morning was hectic as the parents raced around trying to get the trio ready and fed before they had to leave. Just as Harry was starting his final piece of French toast an owl flew through the window and dropped a letter on the counter. Molly read it and shrieked "Arthur!"

"What's wrong?"

"They changed the time! It's in ten minutes not an hour now!" Molly replied hysterically.

"What!" everyone shouted before rushing towards the fireplace to floo to the ministry. Harry, Ginny and Hermione were all nervous wrecks as they spun though the floo, all of them imagining disastrous endings where they were taken away from each other. The adults were keeping up a stream of profanities once Arthur pointed out that if they missed the hearing then Malfoy' claim would be uncontested. Eventually they got to the room they needed with only seconds to spare and after a quick check to make sure everyone was still there, Arthur knocked on the door. 

A/N sorry about the long wait. Now that I don't have any more assignments I should be able to update sooner though they will not be more than once a fortnight. This story will not be abandoned so please be patient.

Also if some think that I'm adding too much because of the bond that is how I see it; they are combined, compounded and like the separate parts of our body they each take care of their best aspects for the good of the whole. Thus it is natural that their magic would increase, minds be shared and their particular talents be augmented and thus shared.

Till next time

Da Sarge


	13. Trials, curses and heirs omg

The door to the courtroom swung open when Arthur pushed on it and the all of them walked into the room as calmly as they could, thought the trio keeping some part of them touching each other at all times made things a bit awkward.

"Ah," said Fudge looking disappointed for a second when he saw Arthur, Harry, Ginny and Hermione walk in. "Arthur, I see you got the letter that the time of the hearing was changed."

"Yes," he said with some effort to keep his voice civil. "But may I ask that the notices be sent with a bit more time to ensure attendance, after all it would be a shame for a person to unjustly miss their opportunity to present their case just because the notice was too late to allow them to attend." While he was speaking the Grangers and Molly had taken seats around the outside, Dan never taking his eyes off Malfoy or taking his hand off the butt of his gun hidden in his inside jacket pocket.

"Yes, well," said fudge looking a bit flustered. "You're here and Harry is here so we can start.

"We are here to determine the placement of Harry James Potter, as his previous guardians have been shown to be hostile to his presence and his life would be in jeopardy if he should stay. There are two parties who have put forward their requests for the custody of Mr Potter. Mr Arthur Weasley, a ministry employee and Lord Lucius Malfoy, a well respected member of the community." Fudge looked at the two parties.

"Now we will listen to the cases put forward by each party, Mr Weasley, you first."

"Yes sir," Arthur said standing and gathering himself.

"My family and I have placed our application to gain guardianship of Harry as we believe that in our house he will be able to grow up in a magical family that contains the love and affection that all children, especially Harry need to grow into prominent people in our society. My family leads a busy and diverse lifestyle with all our children performing in various activities and encouraged to get ahead in life on their own merit. We have two children very close to Harry's age with whom he will be able to support and be supported by during his childhood, one of whom he has already formed a close attachment with. He has spent some time in our household and has settled in well and has expressed his wishes that he not be removed."

"And yet," Fudge interrupted. "In this environment he has already needed to be taken to the hospital I believe it is, two separate times? I believe that sheds some doubt on the safety of the household."

"Those cases were..." Arthur began before he was interrupted again.

"I also have my doubts as to your ability to raise another child," Fudge continued. "Having looked at the financial information you have provided to the ministry you would be unable to provide for another child without dipping into Mr Potters own funds is that not correct?"

"Yes but Mr Potters parents have..." he began again before being cut off yet again.

"So you admit that you would need to take from him to keep him," the minister said with a slightly vindictive smile. "I think that about wraps up the arguments from the Weasley family, over to you mister Malfoy."

Ignoring the protests from the Weasleys, Lucius Malfoy stood.

"Minister I believe that my family and I would be able to teach Mr Potter the proper ways of our society as is befitting his station and status in our world. Such things have been sadly lacking in his experience to date as he has lived with those deplorable muggles and I believe that my family would be able to provide a proper environment for him to become a proper member of our society." The last remark was accompanied by a scathing look at Dan and Jane. "I would also like to point out that with the resources of the Malfoy family I would be able to care for him without removing funds from him and I too have a son his own age with whom he can socialise."

"I trust that your estate has not had to have children admitted to hospital on a regular basis?" Fudge asked.

"No, the last instance was a case of dragon pox several years ago which was treated very quickly."

"Very well then," the minister said with a smirk. "It is my opinion that the child himself, given his past and the conditions he was given with the Weasley would not be reliable in his wishes as they may have been influenced by the other circumstances and so I must therefore give..."

"CORNELIUS FUDGE!" a voice bellowed across the room as the door slammed open and Amelia Bones strode in looking furious. "What exactly do you think you are doing?"

"I am presiding over this case director and..." Fudge began blustering before he was interrupted by Amelia.

"You have no authority to preside over any child welfare case whatsoever Cornelius and you know it!" she snapped angrily. "You also have no authority to change the particulars of the hearing. I noticed that you specifically altered the time of this hearing to an hour earlier than specified and informed Mr Malfoy here yesterday while Mr Weasley was informed not ten minutes before the time that it was changed to! Now get out of this court immediately and I will be looking into why you took this upon yourself and who aided you to change the particulars of this hearing!"

With a furious look on his face fudge stood, snatched up his bowler hat and marched out the door.

"Now that he is out from under our feet we can start this over shall we?" she asked as she took her place.

The next half hour was filled with both sides making their points again and being questioned by Amelia, with her asking both parties questions about the points they raised, such as the provisions left by Harry's parents to give a sum of money to ensure Harry was taken care of adequately and the conditions in each of the households. Finally it came the time for Harry to give his view on where he wanted to go.

Dan had never taken his eyes off Malfoy throughout the whole trial, watching him from out of the corner of his eyes, making himself appear like he was completely distant from the proceedings in front of him. He watched with alarm and drew his gun as he saw Malfoy take his wand from the cane that he carried with him and aim under the tables at Harry, mutter something and Harry start suddenly. Both Ginny and Hermione looked at him with surprise as his expression went slightly vacant and Dan aimed and fired several times. His gun boomed loudly in the enclosed space, striking Malfoy in the arm, shoulder and the middle of his chest, flinging him out of his chair and onto the floor. As soon as he hit the floor Harry started and the vacant expression faded, leaving him looking confused.

The sound of the gunfire echoed as all the witches and wizards present jumped at the loud sounds and on seeing Malfoy on the ground Amelia instantly disarmed and bound Dan.

"Aurors and medics!" she shouted into a broach that she wore on her robes. "What in Merlins name are you thinking?" she shouted at him.

"I saw him mutter something and point his wand at Harry under the table," he said glaring at Malfoy from his bound position in his seat.

Amelia proceeded to summon Malfoy's wand and perform the priori incantatem spell on it while placing the tips of the two wands together. Her expression turned to fury when she saw the arithmetic representation of the Imperius curse hover above the point the two wands met and with a wave of her wand she released the binding on Dan.

"Thank you," he said rubbing his wrists where the ropes she had conjured had cut into him slightly.

"No need to thank me," she said as a pair of Aurors burst in followed by a healer. "Give him whatever treatment you need to keep him alive for now," she said pointing at Lucius. "Take his wand as evidence of the use of the Imperius curse. If he is able to be questioned tell me, I want to question him here and now, aurors bring some Veritaserum!" and immediately an auror rushed out.

"What is Veritaserum?" Jane asked Arthur.

"A truth potion," he said. "It's the most powerful in existence, there is no antidote and no way to resist it; you tell the truth whether you want to or not. It's only really used in criminal questioning for severe curses like this."

"That curse is bad?" Dan asked sharply. "Why? What does it do?"

"It's one of three curses called the unforgivables," Arthur replied. "They are so called because the use of one on a fellow human being gets an automatic life sentence." Both the Grangers gasped at this. "Yes they are that bad, though this is possibly the most tame of them. The imperius curse is the control curse; a person hit by it is incapable of any action that the person casting the spell doesn't want, total control. He would have been capable of killing Ginny and Hermione if he had been ordered to and he would not have been able to stop himself, though I doubt that was the instructions he was given."

"Is there any way to stop it?" Jane asked fearfully.

"Some strong willed people are able to fight it, or even throw it off completely, but there is no counter curse, there's only a potion and that is very difficult to make. Usually the only way someone could be proven to have done something while under the imperius curse is to give them Veritaserum and ask; there are no other signs."

While Arthur explained all this, the healer rushed over to Malfoy who had by now passed out with blood loss and with several waves of her wand she located the injuries. It took her three minutes before his wounds were healed and blood replenishing potions were administered and she stood up as the auror who had left returned with a small phial of clear liquid. "He is ready for questioning."

The two aurors dragged him to the centre of the room and conjured a chair, to which he was bound, his head tilted back and three drops were poured down his throat while Amelia set up a dicta quill and parchment to record the interrogation. The auror pointed his wand at his chest and muttered "Renervate!" bringing him back to full consciousness, though with a blank expression.

"Your name?" Amelia asked beginning the interrogation.

"Lucius Malfoy," he replied emotionlessly.

"Your date of birth?"

"Tenth of February."

"Did you cast the Imperius curse on Harry Potter?"

"Yes."

"Why did you do it?"

"So I could gain custody of him."

"Why did you want that so badly?"

"I wanted him so I could give him to the Dark Lord when he returns, then he would not be as displeased with me for turning away after he was defeated."

Amelia looked elated; she had wanted to pour this down his throat for years and now had grounds to ask for a confession to death eater activity.

"Are you Death Eater?" she asked.

"Yes."

"How did you escape prosecution?" Amelia asked seeing an opportunity.

"I bribed Cornelius Fudge and other members to have the charges dropped and the explanation that I'd been under the imperius put to the public."

"Who were those others?"

"Jameson, Peters, Malignin, Terrys, Greengrass."

"Do you know of any others who did the same?"

"Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Mcnair..." he went on listing more than a dozen names of people who had claimed that.

"Do you know of any other death eaters who have escaped justice?" Amelia asked.

"Severus Snape, Igor Karkaroff, Peter Pettigrew," he said.

"Pettigrew?" she gasped. "He was a hero! What makes you say that!"

"He gave the Potters location to the Dark lord, he had the mark."

"What about Sirius black? What about all those muggles?"

"He was a decoy, trying to make us go for him rather than the real secret keeper, Peter. Peter used a blasting curse on the street killing the muggles, cut off his own finger and escaped by turning into a rat."

"He is an animagus?" Amelia asked. She was in a state of almost shock and was asking questions reflexively. She had expected only to here that he wanted to get Potter under his control and now had uncovered corruption at many levels from the DMLE to the minister's office, Death eaters, a hero who was actually a traitor and an innocent man who had been entombed in Azkaban for six years!

"Yes a rat."

"Do you know where he is now?"

"I told him that the Weasleys would be a good place to go as a pet and a spy, he has been passing information on the light and Dumbledore ever since."

"WHAT!" Molly and Arthur cried. "That's got to be scabbers; he's always been missing a toe on his foot!"

"You have a rat that matches the descriptions?" she asked them sharply.

"Yes, he's been in our family for years," Arthur said weakly. "We never dreamed he would be an animagus."

"Send teams to collect them," she said sharply to one of the Aurors. "Be warned that these are very dangerous individuals; bring them in dead or alive. Arthur I presume that you should be able to bring in Pettigrew?"

"That should be easy," he said. "Stunner and an unbreakable charm on his cage should do it; with surprise he doesn't have a chance."

"Good, I think we can leave the questioning there for now," she said faintly. "As for the hearing the Weasleys will receive custody of Harry Potter as it is obvious Malfoy is unsuitable."

"YES!" all three kids cried and tightened their hold on each other drawing themselves into a three-way hug causing all the adults to smile at their antics.

"I think that we should all go home," Molly said. "I think that is quite enough excitement for today."

"Wait molly," Arthur said. "I need to take out Pettigrew before we go back remember."

"Of course," she said. With that they left the room and headed back to the atrium which was full of Aurors gathering around portkeys and apparition points for their missions. "We should go to Diagon alley and get an ice-cream from Fortescues."

"Good idea," he replied. "I'll come get you once I've got him out."

"Come on you guys," Ginny said. "I wanna show Harry and Hermione Diagon alley for real."

After a few minutes filling in forms and getting signatures they were all set and Arthur and Molly were officially Harry's guardians and they all flooed to their destinations, Harry Ginny and Hermione tumbling out of the fireplace at the Leaky Cauldron as usual before they set off to Diagon alley. Dan and Emma were awestruck by the bustle of magical people and the shear magic of the place. The entire place looked like an old English market place or high street, cobles as the paving, wooden signs hanging from the store fronts, wooden and stone building several stories high with what are clearly flats above the stores. Then there was the contents of those stores; cauldrons of all kinds were stacked outside a store with prices listed in the tags, a magical toy store with flying figurines and animated soft toys, animated banners hung from a store for quidditch with players racing back and forth across the fabric throwing the ball between them, wands stacked outside a wand store with the name of Olivanders in gold above the door. Finally at the end was what they thought of as a stereotypical old English bank; white stone with a solid look to it yet graceful somehow.

"Wow," Harry said.

"It's different seeing it for yourself isn't it," Hermione said looking around with equal awe.

"This is incredible," Jane said trying to see everything at once.

"Here we go," Molly said steering everyone to the tables outside the ice-cream parlour. Both Grangers took seats so they could keep observing the Alley, while the trio concentrated on the different flavours that they could get.

"You know I can't wait till the senses stage kicks in," Hermione said.

"Why do you say that?" Dan asked.

"We can share tastes," she said. "That way we can taste all the good stuff three times over." This was greeted with large amounts of laughter from the parents and chuckles from the kids.

Eventually they had placed their orders and received their ice-creams, Harry, Hermione and Ginny getting a triple choc and peanut butter ripple to share and each of the adults chose a simple spearmint flavour while they talked. After ten minutes a silver light shot down from the sky and formed into a weasel that stood on its hind legs and spoke with Arthur's voice.

"The rat's in custody, but there are curses at the house. Do not return. Kids are safe, I'll come to you."

"What did he mean that there are curses at the house?" Jane asked.

"He probably had some cursed objects that he could use if he was captured," Molly said looking worried. "They might need to be removed by curse breakers and we can't have the kids there when that happens. Some of the stories I've heard from Bill about the work Gringots does in Egypt..."

"He works for Gringots?"Dan asked.

"Yes, he finished school last year and this is the end of his first year on the job," Molly said. "He's going to be a curse breaker, but he's just in training at the moment, doing the smaller stuff."

"What about your other kids? What are they planning on doing?" Jane asked curious.

"They're all in school or going to be," she replied. "Charlie has just finished his sixth year and is planning on going to work with dragons."

"Dragons!" Dan gasped. "Real fire breathing dragons?"

"Yes," she said looking anxious. "I wish he would go into the ministry with his dad but he won't. It's Percy who wants to go into the ministry and we don't know what the others want, they aren't really at the age where they are thinking about their careers."

"Ginny always wanted to grow up to be Harry's wife," Hermione put in with a giggle as everyone else except Harry and Ginny cracked up.

"Shut up!" Ginny cried out with her hands over her face which was doing an amazing job of mimicking the colour of her hair. "Do you want me to tell them that you wanted to own the largest library on earth with the complete first editions of Shakespeare?"

Hermione spluttered as a fresh round of laughs went around the table before Molly spoke up.

"Well most of the ancient wizarding houses have private libraries; I definitely know the Potters have one."

"They do?" both Harry and Hermione gasped.

"Yes," she smiled. "I remember at your parents wedding I wandered in there at one time and it was at least the size of Hogwarts library, if not larger."

"Yes when I find where it is you can go in," Harry said as Hermione started to pull out her puppy-dog eyes on him. "But if you are in there for more than a day we'll send in the search parties."

"And one of us will be with you at all times," Molly added in quickly. "Not all the books in those libraries are fit for children to read."

"In what way," Jane asked sharply.

"Well on the lower end there are usually books that are..." she paused looking embarrassed. "_Adult _centred." She saw the understanding dawn on their faces. "But at the other end there are probably books on some of the darkest and most evil magics in existence. I remember in the library at Hogwarts..." she shuddered.

"What did you find? Why were you looking?" Jane asked worried.

"It was for NEWT Defence; it was horrible, some of it was even low level necromancy." She shuddered again.

"Necromancy?" Dan asked in a slightly disgusted whisper.

"Death magic," she said looking nauseous. "It told you how to make inferi, reanimated corpses. The punishment for any sort of death magic is to be sent through the veil. That law has been in existence since the foundation of wizarding law and it has never changed or even been proposed to be changed."

"So it told you how to make zombies?" Jane squeaked. "_Why _in the name of _god _was that in a school full of children!"

"It was in the restricted section," Molly reassured her. "You need a signed note from a teacher to get a book from there, if you try to take one it will start screaming when you open it and only students doing advanced defence, charms transfiguration or potions ever get permission to go in there and even then those books are scrutinised heavily."

"So they won't be able to stumble across them while at school?" Dan asked relaxing a bit.

"Yes it's one of the reasons the librarian is so protective of the books, there is some nasty stuff in there and she doesn't want them to fall into the wrong hands."

"Well now we're really freaked out how about we get some money and do some shopping?" Hermione asked innocently. Everyone agreed and after paying for and finishing their ice-creams they set off towards Gringots. Harry's presence caused quite a bit of a stir as they walked down the street, with dozens of witches and wizards coming forward to shake his hand and thank him for finishing of Voldemort. By the time they got to Gringots there were three reporters, six camera guys and a crowd at least ninety strong following them asking for autographs. A few even offered marriage contracts.

"Wow," Jane said, looking back at the crowd that had stopped outside the doors of the bank. "When you said he's very famous I thought that we would just have to deal with a few autographs and girls getting crushes. I heard three people offering themselves or their daughter's hands in marriage out there and half a dozen more were offering themselves full stop, he's almost seven for god's sake! That and there were three reporters there within a minute!"

"The last war was as bad as it could get," Molly said sadly. "Everyone was terrified that they wouldn't live through the day and it was a realistic fear. Then Harry came along and stopped it all; you know who was gone and the death eaters fell apart. Everyone was euphoric and everyone out there can remember the war."

"I suppose," Dan said as they stepped up to a counter.

"We would like to visit Mr Potters vault thank you," Molly said.

"Mr Potters vault?" he asked looking at her sternly.

"Yes we recently became Harry's guardians and Harry learned of the magical world as well so we would like to visit and probably take a look at the finances," she said.

"Do you have proof of your claim?" the goblin asked.

"Here," she said handing over the copies of the guardianship forms. The goblin placed a trio of small crystals at several points on the document and they all glowed gold after a second. "That seems to be in order, do you have his key?"

"No we haven't, Harry never received a key," Molly explained.

"We will need several drops of blood then to authorise the creation of new keys and removal of the old ones," he said gesturing to Harry who held out his hand. A quick prick on his finger and a few drops on a plate and two keys appeared. Then the plate started flashing gold and the goblin stared at it in shock. He summoned a messenger goblin and spoke with him urgently and sent him away before turning back to look at the three kids in surprise and a fair amount of respect.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked confused.

"Not at all sir," the goblin replied. "We just need to speak with you regarding you bond." All of them started in surprise and looked at him in shock.

"How did you know?" Jane asked.

"We detected it in his blood," he said calmly. "And may I ask if you have an interest in the parties involved?"

"Yes, Hermione is our daughter," Dan said.

"That is all in order then," he said. As he spoke another goblin walked up.

"Ah, Mr Potter, Mrs Weasley," he said. "I am Ragnok, director of Gringots, if would you follow me we can talk in a private location."

On the way Molly explained to the Grangers exactly why this was a significant event, "Ragnok is not only the director of Gringots, but he is the head of the European goblin nation, an independent magical nation that has strong ties with the various wizarding governments that they do business with. I have never even seen him before much less spoken to him in person."

They were led into a spacious room with a coat of arms on the door; three phoenixes with their wings outstretched forming a triangle over a shield and crossed wands. At the bottom was a scroll with the words _Optimus Fortis Quod Putus Eternus _

"What does the motto mean?" Hermione wondered out loud.

"It means noble, brave and pure forever," Dan said.

"You speak Latin Mr...?" Ragnok asked

"Granger," Dan replied. "Daniel granger sir. I learnt a fair bit of Latin at school and at medical school."

"Ah, you are non-magical then?" he asked.

"Yes," Dan replied.

"Yes of course, it certainly looks like the Potter curse is still in effect," he said grinning.

"What curse?" asked Harry nervously.

"I have seen five generations of Potters come through these doors Mr Potter," Ragnok said amused. "And have been the account manager for the past three. Each of them had the same pattern with their partners, with a single exception. They all found their life mates early on in life, they were almost all muggle born, brilliant, red haired and with a large temper. It seems you have the best of both worlds in your bond mates."

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yes really and it is your bond that we are here to discuss, or more specifically, what it means for your finances here in Gringots."

"And what is that?" Molly asked.

"Essentially it is considered a sign of maturity in the goblin world to form such a bond, though this wouldn't usually qualify you for adult status or rights until you are at least fourteen years of age. In this scenario however you can become head of you house at eleven as you are the last of a Most Noble and Most Ancient house; if you chose a magical advisor. This gives you the rights and responsibilities of an adult, though these can be revoked by your advisor if he or she decides that you are not ready or able to hold those responsibilities. At the moment you have four vaults; the trust vault that was set up when you were born, the Potter family vault, and two others that we are trying to ascertain the status, contents and associated information about.

"The Potter trust vault contains 70,000 galleons, 28,954 sickles and 14,787 knuts. It is topped up to 100,000 galleons every three months."

"If that is the case then why is it at 70,000?" Molly asked.

"There was a 10,000 galleon withdrawal at the beginning of this month and the two months previously by Mr Potter's former guardian, with five hundred galleons being converted to muggle currency and paid to one Vernon Dursley for Harry's care." he said. "Were you not aware of this?"

"No," Molly said looking livid. "Are you saying that fat lump was being paid five hundred galleons a month to "take care" of Harry?"

"That is correct," he said cautiously, as he saw the kids looking furious.

"Is there any way we can get that back?" Jane asked, similarly angry to Molly and the kids. "There was no care provided and those _creatures,"_ she spat. "Are currently being charged with the attempted murder of Harry."

At this Ragnok's eyes widened and he bared his teeth in a snarl.

"And who was this guardian who made these withdrawals," Molly asked. "The Dursleys were the only guardians that Harry should have had and they most definitely did not have any contact with the magical world."

Ragnok barked an order in gobbledegook and an attendant rushed in. After another snarled command he rushed out again.

"How much is five hundred galleons in muggle money?" Dan asked.

"At today's exchange rate, 12,325 pounds," Ragnok said.

"That's outrageous!" Jane raved. "They get paid more than most professionals to supposedly take care of Harry and they treat him like dirt! They could have not worked a day in their lives and lived very well on that!"

"I assure you that we will take any and all measures necessary to recover the amounts," Ragnok said. "The Potters are one of our oldest clients and were among our first customers and the last of those lines who were the original customers. We will find who has been authorising these withdrawals and take action."

At that moment the goblin who had been sent earlier rushed back in with a heavy file in his hands which he gave to Ragnok and then left. Ragnok then spent five minutes flicking though the files and the scowl on his face grew more and more pronounced with each passing second. Eventually he set the file down and looked up at them.

"It appears that the money was taken by one Albus Dumbledore, placed in several dummy vaults and eventually placed in the vault belonging to the organisation known as the Order of the Phoenix."

Stunned silence greeted this revelation, but there were more to follow. "He also seems to have sealed the Potter will using his post as Chief warlock and placed Mr Potter in the care of people who were never supposed to have custody of him. He was a witness to the will and so knew exactly what the will contained, yet he had it sealed, himself proclaimed as his financial guardian in the stead of the Dursleys and Mr Potter raised in ignorance of his status, the existence of the will and his family vaults. He left specific instructions never to tell you of these things until you came of age, the only reason that I am able to tell you of them is that he has violated your parents wishes and fraudulently proclaimed himself your guardian."

The temperature in the room started to rise rapidly and the air crackled with magic as all three kids shook with fury that someone who they thought was a great man suddenly turned out to be stealing from Harry, placed Harry with people who made his life hell and tried to kill him while paying them to do so and tried to keep what was his from him. Molly quickly drew her wand and began casting calming spells as fast as she could while Jane and Dan tried to soothe the children, speaking words of comfort in their ears and holding them tight. After five minutes Molly was tired but the kids were back under control. It was then that they noticed the armed guards who were pushed to the edges of the room by the magic the kids had given off.

"You do know Mrs Weasley that it is a crime against the goblin nation to draw a wand in the presence of the leader of the goblin nation?" Ragnok asked pointedly looking angry.

"My apologies," she said weakly, as she put away her wand. "I thought that it would be the lesser of two evils. We do not want those two losing control of their magic anywhere near a populated area, least of all here."

"And why is that may I ask?" he growled at her.

"The last time they passed the blast off as a meteorite impact to the muggle newspapers," Jane said. Ragnok's jaw dropped open.

"They did that?" he whispered

"Yes, they lost control and blew a crater forty yards across when they were magically exhausted," Dan said. "They have had several days rest and recuperation since then and they were even more angry this time. If she hadn't they would have torn the entire building apart by accident."

"V-Very well," he said. "In that case then all is forgiven and thank you for your timely intervention. Guards you are dismissed."

"Please you three, control yourselves," Jane chided gently. "You can badly hurt people if you don't get a grip on your tempers."

"It's so hard," Ginny hissed. "The things Harry has to go through..." she trailed off in a snarl.

"It's monstrous," growled Hermione taking up where Ginny left off. "He finds out his relatives were not only abusing him but they were being paid to do it and the man who put him with them not only was stealing form him but he was the one using Harry's money to pay for his abuse! It's just so..." she too trailed off unable to find words in her rather large for her age vocabulary.

"When you feel yourselves getting angry just remember to think about something that makes you happy," Dan said. "Like try to feel each other and only each other."

Eventually the excitement died down and they got back to business. "Are we able to reclaim the money taken by Dumbledore?" Molly asked.

"Yes we will be able to as they were taken by fraud, in addition there will be heavy penalties to Dumbledore himself for theft and ignoring the will. Those will be split between yourself and the bank. At the moment should we move onto the family vault?"

"Yes thank you," Molly said.

"very well; at the moment the Potter family vault contains 698,789,321 galleons, 389,433 sickles and 365,487 Knuts in liquid assets, various tapestries, armour, weapons both magical and muggle, jewels and other artefacts to the value of some 248,260,000 galleons as well as many other treasures that are metaphorically as well as literally priceless. The estate contains assets in both the muggle and magical worlds to the value of some 976,234,000 galleons with notable companies that you have a significant stake in listed below.

Quality quidditch supplies, 35%

Magadeth Food and beverage suppliers, 49%

Floo suppliers network, 76%

Nimbus Broom Co, 67%

Firebolt Broom Co, 15%

Microsoft Co (Muggle) 10%

BMW (Muggle) 24%

Boeing (Muggle) 9%

BHP Billiton (Muggle) 18%

Puddlemere United Quidditch team 100%

Nestle, (Muggle) 10%

WMC (Muggle) 20%

Lockheed Martin, (muggle) 26%

"The estate has grown considerably over the past six years thanks to some aggressive trading, with holdings increasing by 75% and profits increasing by a similar amount in excess of the input. In total the wealth of the estate has grown considerably since the downfall of the dark lord and is looking at many more years. You also own a total of seventeen manors across the world, nine being in the British isles, two in France, two in the USA, one in Germany and Russia, one in Australia, one in Sweden and two in Greece. In addition you own several farms and a large number of houses and other areas of land including several mines for magical ores and material."

Stunned silence met these proclamations.

"How did the Potters get so _much?_" Jane breathed shocked, being the first to recover the ability to speak.

"Gringots has been in operation for a lot longer than most people believe," Ragnok explained. "While we have only been in England since the Tenth century, around the foundation of Hogwarts we are actually a branch of the main bank which is in Rome, Italy. The bank as a whole has existed since before the rise of the roman empire, even as far back as the Egyptian golden era. The Potters were a wealthy family when we first opened the bank in Europe in 1785 BC and they have had more than three thousand years to accrue wealth. Potters always seem to come out on top regardless of their competition, as has been seen by their longevity and their family motto was actually given to them by the old magical council, back when the Roman Empire was in its prime and has remained true since before records started and has continued to this day."

"So this is the result of thousands of years of work?" Molly said looking at the numbers in the ledgers on Ragnok's desk. She found it hard to comprehend that much wealth.

"Yes and a large portion of it is in physical property, or businesses that are unlikely to go out of business. The Potters are without doubt the world's richest family. The reason it has been kept out of the lists was the Potters desire for privacy and their diversity; roughly half of the business wealth is split across the two worlds.

"The effect the bond has is that both Miss Granger and Miss Weasley have the same rights to the property as Mr Potter, in other words full access to the trust vault and once Harry turns eleven full accesses to the Potter accounts and estate. Should Mr Potter claim his inheritance he will also gain the title of Lord Potter, with Miss Weasley and Miss Granger becoming the Ladies Potter."

"They count as married?" Molly gasped along with Jane.

"Not at the moment, though they will be once Harry reaches the age of eleven. They will be married by magic and so there will be no arguing by anyone that can affect this and I highly doubt that they will have any regrets or would it make any difference."

"He's right mummy," Ginny said. "By that time we will be one. The bond will be complete and we will be the same person in every way, it wouldn't change anything for us." Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Alright baby girl," Molly said.

"The other thing is that we have received the information on the two vaults that were mentioned before. They are the Gryffindor and Slytherin Vaults. It appears that Mr Potter is the heir of Gryffindor and the magical heir of Slytherin."

"How is he magical heir of Slytherin though?" Molly choked out.

"I believe it was granted when he defeated the dark lord as a child as he was the true heir of Slytherin, something made the heirs magic abandon him though and it passed to his vanquisher. The question is what could make it desert him? It would have to be a great crime against magic to do that."

"Would the creation of a horcrux do that?" Dan asked. Ragnok did a double take.

"It certainly would, but what makes you ask that and how do you know of such a thing?" he asked looking alarmed.

"We discovered that Harry was a horcrux until recently," Molly said with a sniff as she remembered the removal ritual and the look on the kid's faces when they heard what was essentially a death sentence placed on them. "It was removed when we found it as it was destroying the bond with Ginny and it was because of that that Hermione was bonded too."

"Then that is our answer," Ragnok said grimly. "Do you have any idea how many he made?"

"I talked with some of the people from the ministry while we were waiting for Harry and Ginny to wake up," Molly said. "They said it would take at least four but probably more than that for a soul to fracture on its own."

"It is well known that Gringots is one of the safest places in the British Isles," Ragnok said. "I will investigate known death eater vaults to determine if he has placed one here. Such abominations will not be allowed to exist."

"What does being the heirs of the founders do?" Molly asked.

"They gain access to the founders vaults which now only contain some rare or unique artefacts and very little else. The other thing is each heir has a 25% stake in the Hogwarts education trust. Thus Harry has a 50% share. The other heirs can be found with a blood test, though only females can be the heirs to those lines as they are matriarchal."

"How about we test Hermione?" Jane asked with a smile. "It would be nice to see if we have magical people in our ancestry."

"We can do that test now," Ragnok said looking amused at the look on Hermione's face; eager and her eyes fixed on the parchment that he had taken out. "Just a drop of blood on the parchment will do. Muggles will be in black, squibs will be in blue, magical will be in green, any matriarchal lines you are the heir to will be in gold, any patriarchal lines that you can bear an heir for are in silver. Any questions?" there were none and so Hermione pricked her finger and dripped a drop of blood on the parchment. It swirled for a few seconds before becoming a liquid gold and forming the rune of their bond with each of their names in it. Then off Hermione's name the lines started to form; Jane and Dan in blue, their parents in black and up several generations before finally coming across another blue on her father's side with the name of Graceman. That then went up the page in green, stopping when it reached thirty generations. On her mother's side it went eight generations before finally coming across a squib by the name of Gellane, before continuing up the tree until it changed names, which glowed gold; Ravenclaw. Everyone gasped.

"Well Miss," Ragnok said. "This is a day for the founders to show themselves, this confirms that you are the heir of Ravenclaw and you have the rights to her vault and artefacts. On your eleventh birthday you will also gain the title of Lady Ravenclaw, as will your bond mates."

"I hope I don't gain the title _Lady _Ravenclaw," Harry quipped with a shy grin. Much to his delight everyone burst out laughing.

"I don't know Harry you would make a wonderful Lady," Jane said with a smile.

"Well why don't we do the same with Ginny?" Molly asked looking amused. "See if that rumour of us descended from one of the founders is true."

Again a drop of blood coiled into the trinity rune of their bond before sending the green shoots out to Molly and Arthur's names and up through the ages. In this tree there was a lot of green with several blues or blacks as parents along the line before finally the name Weasley turned to Hufflepuff. Again there were stares. "Well it seems that Miss Weasley will become Lady Hufflepuff and I can assure you Mr Potter that you will not be Lady Hufflepuff as well," Ragnok smirked at him.

"Wait that means that these three literally own Hogwarts," Dan said.

"Yes they will be in charge of the wards collectively," Ragnok replied. "Additional information can be received in the vaults or from Hogwarts itself as the building has an inbuilt sentience that activates for the founders heirs."

"Thank you for your information and time Director," Jane said. "Is there anything else we need to know? Or is there a blood test we can take that proves that I'm third in line to the throne and Harry has to marry a rosebush?" she quipped cheekily.

"Actually," Ragnok said with a straight face taking a separate ledger out of the drawers in his desk.

"You're not serious!" she gasped in shock as the kids looked alarmed. That is until he began to laugh.

"Ah the look on your faces was worth all the gold in Gringots," Ragnok chortled. "I must say that you are welcome to discuss your accounts with me at any time. It was a pleasure to do business with you all, I can't remember the last time I enjoyed dealing with a family. You are a breath of fresh air in this world all of you."

"Thank you Director," the kids said in tandem before they were all led from the room by another goblin.

The director sat at his desk looking through the Potter accounts as he reviewed the meeting in his mind. What stood out from the nuances of the other families that he had to deal with was that the others all treated him like he was beneath them or at best something to be tolerated. The witch, muggles and kids he had just dealt with accepted him as an equal and even made a few jokes with him. They didn't even think about blaming Gringots for the thefts that were being perpetrated, they simply looked at Dumbledore. The goblins had known about the shifty nature of the Dumbledore's since they first arrived in England in the fourteen hundreds; all of them were looking to further the light but they really only ever saw the big picture and regarded rules as something to keep people in check and away from the dark. They were never really dark wizards themselves, rather grey, they do good work but they really didn't have many scruples about killing innocents to get that good work done. Goblins had always looked to the Potters as defenders of the light and with good reason, they themselves had been part of the magical council that created that motto and it was a closely guarded secret that there was much more to those words than meets the eye


	14. Chapter 14

A/N just in case you are wondering, the exchange rate is 5 pence for 1 Knut and cannon exchanges for sickles and galleons from there. So 1 galleon is worth £24.65.

It was an emotionally exhausted group that left the bank after their meeting with the head of the Goblin Nation. All of them were flabbergasted with the wealth that Harry would gain access to when he was eleven as well as the titles that made the three kids heirs of the four founders and owner of the only magical school in Brittan. The main problems were from the betrayals that they had uncovered while they were in there; Harry, Hermione, Molly and Ginny were all having their notions readjusted to take into account that the person that they had looked up to as a mix of saviour and guide had been stealing from Harry while paying for him to be abused with Harry's own money. While Jane and Dan had not known the man for long, they really didn't think that he would be someone who would steal and promote abuse.

They had stopped at the tellers on the way out and grabbed a few galleons from the Weasleys and Harry's vault so they were looking at shopping a bit before they went home. The first place they went was Madam Malkin's robes to get clothes for Harry and some robes for Hermione in case they needed to do some formal things. Just as they were coming out they spotted Mr Weasley standing outside Fortescues. When he spotted them he waved and they headed over.

"How did it go?" Molly asked immediately.

"Good," he responded. "There were some cursed artefacts he had in and around the place but they were removed without any trouble. Oh and by the way, we found You Know Who's wand on Pettigrew when we got him. There is no way he is getting out of this; Malfoy's confession, the mark on his arm and You Know Who's wand, that would give him life if not the kiss."

"Good," Hermione said. "That rat is the reason Harry was alone so long. He will pay."

The Grangers were surprised by the level of passion in Hermione's voice; she had never spoken of anyone like that, not even the people who had once made her school life a misery. She spoke with anger and more than a little hatred and there were no illusions that she would try to carry out the punishment herself if given the chance.

"that he will," Arthur said. "And there is talk of an Order of Merlin for you Dan; catching old Lucy in the act set off a chain reaction that has seen more than thirty Death Eaters named and arrested as well as half a dozen high up staff in the ministry that took bribes and that number is set to climb."

"What's the order of Merlin?" Dan asked confused.

"It would be like an Order of the British Empire in the non magical world," Hermione said.

"And it would give you certain rights in our world," Molly said. "The receiving of one award, even third class makes the family a full Wizarding House, meaning that you have some entitlements in regards to property and certain liberties in the ways you live your life, including the right to negotiate marriage contracts with any party."

Arthur picked up from there. "Many families attain that status through staying magical for three generations. It is only a few that receive that honour in the first or second generation. If a house receives more than one order of Merlin, one of which was a first class award, they attain the status of a Nobel house, which gives them protection under law. Receiving Three First class honours gives them the title of Most Noble."

"Oh," was all Dan had to say.

"So that is what that Ragnok fellow meant by that Most Noble stuff," Jane mused. "And Most Ancient?"

"When a family reaches 500 years of the name being carried in magical people they are made an Ancient house and after 1000 years they become Most Ancient," Arthur replied.

"So what are the Weasleys?" Dan asked curious.

"We are a Noble house," Molly said with a hint of pride. "Arthur's great grandparents helped put down a vampire uprising in the early 1800's and his father was a fighter in the war against Grindelwald, both were decorated for their parts. We don't really go on about it much but the rights and so on are there if we need to use them. Other than that we do as we need to get by.

"And speaking of things we learnt in Gringots," Molly continued, her voice hardening. "We need to speak of this at home, in private. Is the house ready for us to go back?"

"Yes it is," Arthur said. "Why what did you learn there?"

"It's about Harry growing up with his r_elatives_ and his finances," Dan said grimly.

"I'll just call Dumbledore then, he should be involved if those Dursleys had done anything else," Arthur said as he started to rise.

"NO," all of them said forcefully raising their voices and causing a few people to stare at them.

"Dumbledore is at the centre of this so we don't want him to know yet," Molly whispered to her husband urgently. "We need to discuss this without anyone outside the families knowing."

Arthur stared at his wife for a few seconds before nodding. "Very well, shall we go home now?"

"Yes please," the kids said in unison, all three soaking up the information from the talking, though none more so than Hermione of course.

It was an uneventful flu trip home and they were treated to a storm of questions from the rest of the Weasley children.

"What was that all about?"

"What did they do with my rat?"

"Were those-"

"-Curse breakers dad?"

"Why did they have to come here?"

"QUIET!" Arthur shouted. "Those were curse breakers and aurors from the ministry; they were here because your rat happened to be an unregistered animagus and a death eater." There was a more complete silence now that the Weasley boys all showed that they would make a good set of novelty fly traps. "We discovered him after Lucius Malfoy tried to curse Harry but was caught and questioned. The curse breakers were needed because he had a variety of dark objects on him that needed to be disposed of. Now if you could Molly dear, would you be able to make a quick snack to tide us all over till dinner? It looks like we will be eating late as we have some urgent matters to discuss. All of you will eat in your rooms and if I catch any of you eavesdropping there will be hell to pay understood?"

The whole Weasley brood nodded looking unnerved at his proclamation as well as the look on his face; none of them had seen him look that serious since he caught Fred and George trying to get Ron to swear an unbreakable vow. Molly then quickly knocked together a platter of sandwiches and pumpkin juice and sent the rest of the children away, leaving the Grangers, Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Arthur and Molly alone in the sitting room.

"Now what was it that you found out in Gringots?" Arthur asked.

"It seems that Dumbledore has been playing us for fools for some time," Jane said with a frown.

Molly agreed and then went on to explain the theft of some three quarters of a million galleons from Harry's vault, sealing and disregarding the wishes of the Potters as written in the will he witnessed and placing Harry in an abusive household. By the time she finished Arthur was white.

"you can prove all this?" he asked.

"Yes, we got everything from Gringots," Dan confirmed. "That Dumbledore was a witness to the will, financial statements that show him taking ten thousand a month, him paying the Dursleys to take Harry in, the works."

"Do you have a copy of the will?" Arthur asked.

"No we haven't actually," Molly said. "We were so shocked that we didn't ask, we'll have to go in tomorrow and ask for one. In the mean time we need to work out what to do about all this."

"It's simple," Jane said. "Give the papers to the courts, get him charged and thrown in jail, done!"

"It's not that simple I'm afraid," Arthur said massaging his temples. "This isn't the muggle world where people are charged, regardless of who they are and what they've done. In our world trials of high profile people would be fraught with politics and bribery; Lucius Malfoy was caught red handed in death eater robes with the mark on his arm and having just finished killing a small family, yet with a payment to the right people he avoided justice up till now. Only with his testimony getting his friends and the people he bribed arrested gives us a chance to get justice now. If we went after Dumbledore, the Wizengamont would be highly unlikely to convict him, due to his stature and his previous deeds; hell he is the head of the court! The media will show that a group of people are trying to defame and attack the hero of two wizarding wars; that would make even the fence sitters in the wizengamont more inclined to acquit rather than convict. If we went up against him he would probably get at most a slap on the wrist and told not to be a naughty boy again. And if we did that we would get a lot of bad publicity for attacking the 'leader of the light'.

"Put simply if we took him to court we could get maybe a fine, at most a month in minimum security. For that we would get our names dragged through the mud and we would lose any support we might have later on."

"Couldn't we make it look like he was trying to control and manipulate Harry? Isn't he supposed to be the 'Boy Who Survived' or something?" Dan asked.

"He is the Boy Who Lived yes," Molly said. "But despite that until it is proven it would be front page of the media that we were after Dumbledore's blood and that would mean the whole thing would be a media circus from start to finish. If we bring it up we get buried."

"Do _we _have to bring it up?" Harry piped up. All the adults turned to face the kids who were listening in with serious faces, paying close attention to the plans the adults were trying to make to get justice for their Harry.

"What do you mean?" Molly asked.

"If it came up some other way would that change things? Like if the Dursleys told people how they took money from Dumbledore to keep me there, wouldn't that bring up where he got that money from?" Harry explained.

Dan and Jane both nodded thoughtfully, pondering whether or not it would work, while Molly and Arthur both looked at each other.

"That could work," said Arthur slowly. "If we aren't the ones to bring it up then we can act as if it is news to us and ask them to investigate further, then bring out the source of the money and show his theft and disregard for Harry's parents wishes at the same time." He beamed down at Harry. "Brilliant Harry!"

Harry smiled shyly and looked down as Hermione and Ginny both tightened their hold on him drawing him into a hug.

"The only big point in that would be the length that would pass between now and the Dursleys trial," Molly said. "They would certainly put death eaters before a group of muggles."

"So how long?" Jane asked.

"Several months," Arthur said. "But that would be a good thing. Dumbledore, as much of a right bastard he-"

"Language Arthur!" Molly cut in sharply.

"Sorry dear," he said sheepishly before continuing. "Despite what he has done, Dumbledore is still a very powerful and knowledgeable wizard. He has offered personal teaching of the kids in wandless magic and we should take advantage of that. It is also possible that he regrets his actions and those months would give us time to find out."

"So we do nothing," said Dan looking annoyed.

"There really isn't much we can do at the moment is there?" Jane said, half question half statement.

"Not without harming our own position no," Arthur confirmed wearily. "Right now we just wait and see."

"Wait and see," the other adults and kids chorused in agreement.

...

One month had passed since the trial and subsequent finding of Dumbledore's misdeeds. That month had been spent productively by the combined families; the Grangers had begun the process of opening a new practice in Exeter, a historical city fifteen miles from Ottery St Catchpole where the Burrow was. They had contacted a magical construction company and gotten them to build a nice little home within walking distance of the Burrow itself which was now complete and they even got the power and internet hooked up. The home itself was a masterpiece of magical and muggle lifestyles; the water was run the same way wizarding homes had it: conjured by runes on the taps and vanished in the pipes heading out and the electricity was made by a generator that was charmed by Arthur to stay running without needing any petrol. When he was confronted by his wife about that he pointed out a loophole in the laws: the charming of muggle artefacts needed to change the nature and function of the artefact and be intended for use. That charm didn't change its function as it still only produced electricity; all it did was make the generator not need fuel.

The wiring of the house with electricity was done by Dan and Arthur, well mainly Dan. Arthur spent most of the time squealing with glee at any object Dan was using and generally running around like a hyperactive toddler. They also managed to hook up satellite TV, telephone and Internet alongside the floo connection, with the large dish placed in an enclosure a few metres from the house itself giving them access to all the muggle comforts and a large fireplace on the ground floor. The land itself was the site of an old flour production facility that had fallen into disrepair and been abandoned; the hardest part of purchasing the land was finding out who owned the place after it had switched hands several times, leased to a company or two as storage space and even been foreclosed on a couple of times in its two hundred year history, only a hundred of those as an actual production centre. They left a fair bit of the structures standing, though they were shored up so they were safe to be around and provided great places for the kids to play in once the machinery was stripped out. Jane and Molly were not particularly sure what happened to all the old metal behemoths that the men had pulled from the buildings but they knew that at least some of them had ended up in Dan's shed, where the two fathers would spend many hours on the weekends happily tinkering away, the sounds of clanking, laughter, swearing, squealing of both men and machine and the grinding of metal issuing from the building. A week after the property had been bought Arthur and Bill who had been studying warding as a preparation for going into curse breaking after school, had placed ward stones around the property and erected a large selection of wards, augmented by some of the goblins who had been hired to build the house itself adding their own particular brand of wards.

Both Jane and Dan were astonished by the drop in their expenses once they moved into their new house; they now had free water and power, Arthur had placed a similar charm on the Grangers family car to the one on the generator meaning they didn't have to buy petrol, their only real expenses were the telephone and internet bills and food. The adults from both families brought this up in their discussions once.

"The majority of the things muggles need, eklectiricity-" Arthur started.

"Electricity," Jane and Dan chorused in unison correcting him.

"Yes," he accepted. "Water and transportation we all use magic to either get them or as a substitute and you can't put a price on magic. That is a natural thing. The only real transport expense we have is floo powder and that isn't very expensive."

"What do wizards use for transport?" Jane asked.

"Well you've experienced floo travel," Molly said. "That's from one fireplace to another and is fixed. Portkeys I think you experienced as well and are able to transport as many people as can touch them anywhere in the world but are difficult to make properly and you need ministry approval to use one. Apparation is more common and transports a single person with maybe two passengers to any point within around 300 miles instantaneously. Apparation needs a licence to do though as it can be painful or in rare cases fatal to get wrong. There is also the Night Bus, which you can flag down anywhere and it will take you to most known points for a fare and finally brooms, which can travel up to 100 miles an hour and so are the slowest form of travel we have. Of these floo is the most common as you don't need any magic to use it and you don't need a licence. People usually floo from their house to near where they need to be and walk from there and is usually used by families with children."

"What about massed transport?" Dan asked curious. "For transporting large numbers of people; I mean, there would be only so many people you can take with those portkeys and a bus can hold only so many and the floo can only handle one person at a time."

"Really we don't have any large scale transport like muggles have," Arthur admitted. "We really don't have the need. There are only a few million magical people worldwide and most of those stick to their own countries for most of their lives, only leaving for work or the occasional holiday. There isn't anything like the aroports you have because there isn't any use for them, only a few thousand leave and enter Brittan every year."

"Things like the Quidditch world cup are the biggest things we do," Molly continued. "And they only take up to 100,000 people. Those are a huge organisation challenge for the ministries involved as portkeys would only take practically about twenty people, so usually people with cheap tickets arrive a few days or weeks before. The last one we went to just after bill was born we camped for a week in Greece before the game."

The topics continued through flying and different attitudes to brooms vs. cars for Dan and Arthur, while Molly and Jane began with cooking and household stuff as well as the ways they raised the kids.

While their parents were discussing the ways of the world, Harry, Hermione and Ginny were outside building structures from the ground and sand using magic. They had passed the second stage of their bond a week after Dumbledore's betrayal was realised and had begun the third stage. By this time they had full access to each other's thoughts and memories and were loving every minute of it. They had all missed the feeling of knowing and being known and accepted by their bond mates and _feeling_ that acceptance. Hermione was happy that although her bond wasn't the total meshing as with Harry and Ginny she still was there and able to hear and feel them. Harry and Ginny always made it clear that even if the bond with her stayed partial she would never be less to them; she was in the bond and that made her equal, as important and needed by all as much as Harry and Ginny were.

Despite what Dumbledore had done he had made good on his promise of training in magic. After three weeks of work they had managed to perform quite a few first year spells and a few second and third year spells without a wand, though Hermione was always on the lookout for more that they could do. At the time of the discussion the levitation charm was the spell of the day, lifting branches and dirt to form the shapes they wanted. They also mixed in some of the transfiguration they had figured out on their own, changing wood into metal like a match into a needle only on a larger scale. This tired them out a fair bit though and they saved the rest of their project for later. They were trying to make a sculpture of the symbol of their bond in the yard; the transfigured metal would be coloured gold, wood and dirt would be used for two of the globes and emerald leaves for the third. By this point the rest of the Weasley children knew of the bond; it had been quite hard to hide all the nuances of the connection from bright people like the twins and Percy. They had voiced their observations at dinner one time and that led to the revealing of the bond. Charlie and Percy looked surprised and a bit concerned for Ginny but quickly calmed when they learned that she was happy and quite thrilled with the bond. The twins eulogised over the different ways that they could use their bond for pranks while Ron seemed indifferent, though that was probably because of the large pile of food that he had put on his plate.

Through Ginny's thoughts and memories they built up their opinions of the Weasley family together: Bill was the confident achiever, he could go into just about anything and would pursue his career to the best he could. They were all sure that he would become a very successful curse breaker (his chosen profession) after a few years. He was skilled and hard working yet he didn't lord it over people. Very protective of his family, especially Ginny, who he cared for perhaps more than anyone else in his family as her biggest brother.

Charlie was a magical creatures fanatic, with a particular passion for dragons. All three knew that it was a foregone conclusion that he would be on a dragon reserve somewhere within three years, five at the latest. He knew what he wanted to do and was good at it and would do what it took to get there even if dragons were one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet.

Percy was an aspiring politician, dedicated to the rules and laws of society. He would do as the rules state, to the letter, though they had to admit this would make him rather dull to be around and rather inflexible. Regardless they could see him in the ministry fairly soon after, in the department of law or even going into the minister's office. He would do what it took to achieve his ends, though the cost would be something they needed to look out for.

The Twins were undecided though anyone could see they were geniuses in magical substances and spells; just a few weeks prior to meeting Harry the twins had gotten hold of one of Bills books on potions detailing reactions between substances and by the time Ginny was meeting Harry in St Mungos they had made a powder that could be placed and made whatever touched it vanish and appear several feet away and a meter up. They had used it on Ron, making his dinner reappear right above his head with predictable results. Whatever field they went into they would get on like a house on fire: devastation, screams and people running for cover while the twins cackled manically.

Ron was also undecided but for different reasons. He was the antithesis of Percy; he wouldn't care much about anything that wasn't food, quidditch or chess. He certainly had his strong points; when he found something he liked he would pursue it with the dedication of Percy, the fanaticism of Charlie and the skill of Bill. They could see him in professional quidditch, as a manager or coach perhaps but they knew that he was still yet to grow up and only time would tell what he would do.

Molly was a fiercely protective mother, who loved nothing more than caring for her brood. They knew that she was a brilliant witch; she had fought in the war as an Auror for a few years before she got pregnant with Bill and retired. Her skills and power were now turned to keeping her children in line and teaching the basics to those kids not in Hogwarts.

Arthur was a very skilled wizard. He held a fascination of the muggle world and had a very open mind, as shown with his plethora of muggle gadgets in the shed. Despite his fixation with the mundane world and his career that seemingly had ground to a halt as head of a tiny department with very little work that needed to be done, he was a brilliant charms and transfiguration man, as shown by the car he had made. The vehicle was actually made during the war and they got the tale from him one night.

"At that point in the war things were looking very bad," he began while the trio and the Drs granger listened intently. "The ministry was in disarray and the Death Eaters were striking at will. We Weasleys have always been staunch supporters of the light and Molly and I had tackled many death eaters in the early stages of the war. We knew that we were targets and so we needed some way to escape that they wouldn't expect and that is why I got the car.

That thing had the speed to easily outrun any broom that tried to chase it; it had a metal frame and body so it would absorb even a killing curse without much trouble; only a direct hit to the engine would bring it down. It was a perfect getaway vehicle, even if the floo was cut and anti apparition wards were up. We could jump in the car and be off in seconds, protected from spell fire and with the ability to go invisible at the touch of a button. Fortunately we never needed to use it. Near the end of the war, in early 1981 they Death Eaters sent a small probing party here and we got rid of them quite easily. They never really attacked here. Of course by Halloween, the war was essentially over, the entire Death Eater corps without the terror spread by You Know Who were in disarray and were picked up by the aurors en mass. Some didn't go without a fight, Rosier, Dolohov, Mulciber, Travers, the Lestranges, though they were taken by wards around Harry. The attacks were sporadic and few but they continued for a few months after You Know Who was vanquished."

The trio themselves used their separate perspectives to see their own faults and strengths.

Hermione was a brilliant book smart girl, and could get to the twins level of inventiveness with a bit of work. Her mind was formidable though she didn't have many social skills and hid behind books and her own intellect to keep people at bay to avoid their taunts and bullying. This manifested in a habitual bossy and know-it-all attitude that even she had to admit was quite off-putting. The simple fact that she was in a bond where her bond mates supported her had diminished her need to spout facts recite a textbook whenever asked a question, though she often instinctively reverted to the previous methods when she encountered the same attitudes that she had seen in her schools, read, when she is in the same room as Ron.

Harry was chronically shy and had very little self esteem. He centred his whole being on helping Hermione and Ginny in whatever they did and would make the earth spin backwards if it made them happy. The reverse side of this was he accepted criticism as fact and wouldn't stand up for himself unless he was truly pressed. His curiosity and will to learn had been severely repressed though his bravery was still rock solid and with help from the bond, again his faults had been diminished.

Ginny was bright and outgoing, with boundless energy that had led to the trio forming up for a marathon session of quidditch with the rest of the Weasleys that lasted several hours. The trio made an incredible team of chasers and even though Hermione and Harry were not particularly good shots they still got well ahead and had Charlie raving by lunch. She was naturally curious about everything though it wasn't in the realm of Hermione's near fanatical pursuit of knowledge and learnt quickly. If she had a fault it was her temper, which could easily be roused and usually needed the logic and soothing of Harry and Hermione to calm her. Then Harry would pulp whatever upset her.

Hermione's parents were very similar people; both viewed Hermione as the best thing that ever happened to them, loved what they did and lived their lives the best they could. Dan was a sports fan while Jane had a love of books and shopping, which had led to a very well stocked private library at home. They both had troubles accepting the bond at first; it was a shock to have their daughter right as rain the one minute, thrashing in agony the next they pulled into a three way bond with a magical noble who was just exorcised of a portion of the most powerful dark wizard of the century. They had gotten over the culture shock fairly quickly and now supported their daughter though her obvious joy at her new life played a big part in that. They were nothing if not adaptable.

On the whole the month had been a pleasant one. Up until the day after that talk.

The day had started fairly normally with the kids leaving for Hogwarts for the morning to practice under the headmaster's guidance. However they were an hour late getting back.

"Why are you late we were worried?" Molly asked as they climbed out of the fireplace one by one.

"I had a look in the library," Hermione said. "It was HUGE! The place was amazing, so many books!"

"I was wondering when you would find it," she chuckled. "Are you three hungry? Arthur's coming home early as it's a slow day at the office."

"Good and yes we are hungry," Ginny said. "I think we need to have a sit down soon about Dumbles; if we're right he might be up to something."

That got Molly's full attention. "What do you mean?" she asked sharply.

"Do you know about Occlumency and Legilimency?" Harry asked as he sat at the table.

"I know of them but I never really had much experience with them, your father would know, he is quite good at them."

A bowl of soup and some bread later and Arthur arrived home. They spoke while he ate.

"Dad, is there any age you have to be to learn Occlumency?" Ginny asked.

"Not really, most people only start in their teens but you can learn from as young as five or six if you have the right mindset, why?"

"We remembered the Unspeakables talking about it when we took those tests and apparently we are naturals at it," Hermione began. "I asked Dumbledore about it but he said that it is only possible to learn when you are in your late teens at the earliest."

"That is worrying," Arthur admitted. "I know for a fact that Dumbledore started learning when he was eight years old himself, some old families do that. The only reason he would try that would be so you have little or no mental shields which implies some form of intrusion."

"I'll call your parents Hermione," Molly said. "We need to talk about this as soon as possible."

"In the mean time, is it all right if I check your defences to see what is there?" Arthur asked.

"Sure," the kids chorused in unison. He met Ginny's eyes and pushed out a probe.

_Inside their minds._

_Arthur found himself in a blank plain, in the middle of a swirling blizzard. The cold was hideous and he needed to conjure a cloak in the mindscape to shut out the worst of the cold. He pressed on and had gone about twenty metres when he was hit out of the blue by a horrible memory. A vast man loomed over him, a belt coated in his blood in his hands while pain wracked his body, broken arms and a leg sending jolts of agony to his mind. Just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. Five minutes and half a dozen memories later, each as hideous as the first the memories he was hit with changed. Where before they had been pain, now there was despair; an air of defeat and desolation that made him almost give up then and there. Again the flashes of memories continued in this vein until yet another change came across. Then came the worst. Ripping agony and loss, desperate searching for a part that had not been there before yet now was as notable by its absence as missing all his limbs. Something was taken away and he was lost. The memory vanished again and he pressed on, only the thoughts that he needed to see everything to know their defences. The safety of his children and they were indeed, all three _his _children._

_Finally the blizzard ended and he found himself in a mountain valley. About a quarter mile down the valley was a town and in the centre was a temple with well known symbol on top; the trinity eternal rune of their bond. He started towards it thinking it was where they had their memories and conscious minds until a silhouette caught his eye and he saw the fortress. A curtain wall, surrounded it where it was, perched on the highest peak in the range. That was his goal but as he started he was surrounded by red eyed fiends. Wraiths that leapt at him though when he tried to throw them away his hands and magic passed through like smoke. It took him some time to see them off, love forcing them back enough for him to approach the fortress. As he approached he heard a voice boom out._

"_STOP." He recognised the voice as Harry's. Three streams of smoke appeared form the fortress and transformed into the kids._

"_This area is mined," Hermione said. "Muggle explosives that go off if you step on them." She explained upon seeing his blank look. "Watch." She threw a small snowball at a patch of apparently flat snow, there was a click and the surrounding three metres of dirt and snow were ripped apart and thrown into the air._

"_We will take you to the walls," Ginny said. "You can try to get in from there."_

_She took his hand and they were at the walls before she faded. An hour passed with Arthur trying everything to get in before he conceded defeat. He was brought in past the walls to the inner sanctum, to face the final mind puzzles. At these he was well and truly stumped. Then he finally gave up._

Back outside.

Arthur slumped in his chair mopping the sweat from his brow and shaking.

"I have to say those are the best defences I have ever seen, bar none."

"Were their walls too thick?" Molly asked, handing him a cup of tea. He looked around and saw the Grangers there.

"In a way, how long was I in there for?" he asked.

"an hour and a half," Jane said.

"Wow," he breathed. "And to answer your question dear it wasn't just the walls that stopped me, in fact walls were among the last thing I encountered. They guarded their minds with their most horrific memories and a blizzard. They would hit you out of the freezing cold with no warning and you would be in agony and then fine. Next line was despair, if I weren't doing this for the kids I would have been stopped there."

"That soon?" Molly asked shocked.

"Yes," he confirmed with a nod. "The third line was the worst, what was that by the way?" he posed the question to the children.

"It's what we felt at the beginning when we were separated," Harry said quietly. Harry, Hermione and Ginny joined Arthur in a shudder at the thought.

"After that was a huge landscape," Arthur continued. "a mountain range, with a valley and a small village with a temple to their bond in it. I started for it when I saw the fortress up high. When I went for the fort these wraith things, like the horcrux we got out of Harry attacked and were eventually driven off with love. The kids had to stop me from treading on a minefield before the walls and took me to the walls. Those I couldn't get passed either and the final puzzle was completely beyond me."

Everyone looked at the kids.

"The minefield was pretty straight forward," Hermione began. "There was a path in the shape of our trinity rune through it. The walls you needed to sing the song of our souls to get the gate to appear and open. Inside up top was just a ball of false memories, you needed to jump into the hole in the middle. Next you unravelled a mobius strip and all three of us would need to take our places on the trinity rune to get our memories. It takes all three of us to get past."

"Wow," Molly said again.

"That should hold out against any comers long enough at least to get help," Arthur said. "Now to the matter of Dumbledore. With whatever he is planning I think that now is the time to act; before he can try anything."

"I agree," Dan said. "We've waited long enough and the implications of this are worrying, he wouldn't tell a blatant lie like that if he didn't want them to be vulnerable."

Both the women nodded.

"We'll get the documents and such from Gringots tomorrow morning while you three are in training; you will need to go for at least a little while so he doesn't get suspicious. It is vital that we get these filed and charges levelled before Dumbledore becomes aware of it or he could make them disappear into the ministries bureaucracy. Jane, you and Dan will stay here and make sure the kids get back all right. Everyone clear?" There were nods all around. "Good."

...

In his office Dumbledore looked down at the simple black book on the table before him, the name Tom M Riddle embossed in gold on the cover. He sighed as he contemplated what he would have to do on the morrow, the death of the Granger girl had to happen to mould Potter and the Weasley girl into the tools he needed to win this war and get the Potter heir he needed to pull the rest of the wizarding world into a new age. There was a glimmer of guilt at the thought of arranging for a little girl to be drained of life and her soul damned forever, but it was a small price to pay. It was all for the greater good.

...

The new day dawned as many others had for the bonded children. All three were curled up together in a ball, Harry in the middle and his arms around the two girls who cuddled him like a large teddy bear. They washed and performed their morning routine before a breakfast of kippers, toast and hash brown. The hash browns had been a recent addition to the morning fare at the Weasley household and it was taken to with great deal of enthusiasm from everyone.

Finally it was time for action; Jane and Dan saw everyone off, Molly and Arthur to Gringots and the kids to Hogwarts. The kids got to the school and placed their bags of books on the benches outside before walking down to the lake where they usually practiced. They sat there talking in their minds and idly going over the spells they were going to learn today: a transfiguration spell for non solids to solids. They were going to change water into wood.

Half an hour passed and there was no sign of Dumbledore, only a cloaked man walking towards them. They quickly identified him from the controlled oil slick that he passed off as hair and the look that he gave Harry that suggested that he would happily maim him given half a chance.

"Professor Dumbledore sends word," he said with his Snape SneerTM on full. "He was called away for wizengamont proceedings this morning and is unavailable to instruct you. You are to return home."

"Ok," Ginny said looking slightly surprised.

"Wait here Miss Granger," Snape drawled. "Dumbledore asks that you take this book for study and wait while you ask any tedious questions you want to ask."

Hermione gave the others a gesture to go on ahead and took the book, flicking to the title page before asking several questions. The last one was, "why did Dumbledore want us to read this? Is it important?"

"Yes he said that what's in its pages will change your life. Goodbye," With that he turned with a swirl of his cape and stalked away.

Hermione idly flicked through the book as she walked into the castle, eventually finding a small diary nestled in the pages. Something about it prickled at her magic but she didn't take much notice, books were her fifth love, after her parents, Harry and Ginny. Just before she touched the pages she heard the panicked shouts of "DON'T!" in her head. Her fingertips brushed the leather cover and everything went black.

...

Near Professor McGonagall's office both Harry and Ginny recognised the magic seeping from the book Hermione was about to touch. They knew it from the feeling of the magic that had been driven out of Harry, a horcrux. Their suspicions were confirmed when the warning was too late and Hermione was ripped from their bond and they all collapsed in agony.

...

In the burrow, the two Grangers snapped their heads up as they saw the hands on the clock, the two most recent ones and another less recent one spin. Harry and Hermione had both been given a hand on the Weasley family clock as a sign that they had joined the family. Both Doctors hearts stopped when they noticed the hands now pointed to Mortal Peril.

"Get to Hogwarts!" Dan shouted. "I'll get the others!" they both ran to the floo and seconds later both had disappeared in a blaze of green fire.

...

Harry and Ginny, in their pain immediately snapped their minds into their bond space. The scene they saw terrified them; their blizzard was piled on the drifts and the memories lay scattered like discarded paper. The wraiths had been destroyed utterly and the minefield was a charred ruin. Their temple and village was nothing more than ash and glowing embers but it was their fortress that sent terror into their hearts. The walls, impenetrable or so they thought had been ripped apart and melted by whatever had charged through their minds, taking with it Hermione. Even part of Harry's bond to Ginny felt shaky and barely there, this had ripped the foundation of their lives apart, the bond was everything to them. The inner sanctum, beyond the strip, with the trinity rune though they could see was intact and quickly flickered in.

Lying on the floor on her sphere was Hermione, curled up and sobbing, holding her knees to her chest and shaking in fear. They both went to her and took hold of her breathing a quick sigh of relief when they felt each other again.

"I'm s-s-sorry," Hermione sobbed. "I didn't hear you in time! It's all my fault!"

"No it isn't Hermione," Harry said. "It's Dumbledore's; I'll bet anything that he gave you the horcrux for this reason. Let's all stand on our places; I can feel it in the fake chamber, trying to get in our memories up there."

They all took their places on the rune and with a pulse some of their defences returned as well as a bigger part of the bond.

"Harry," Ginny started. "See if you can get control of both your body and mine and try to find Hermione's. It looks like it's on the second floor bathroom, moaning Murtle's bathroom the one Bill and Charlie told me about. I'll help Hermione here."

Harry nodded and his form in the bond closed his eyes and slumped.

"Hurry Harry," Ginny whispered.

...

In the real world, Harry opened both sets of eyes and quickly got to his sets of feet. He noticed that all this wasn't too difficult. He just acted on instinct, like he knew exactly what to do to protect Hermione and Ginny. He quickly broke both bodies into a quick jog, heading to the bathroom and on the way heard Ginny's faint voice in his heads.

_He's hissing at a tap, it sounds like __Parseltongue. Hurry Harry, Hermione can feel her link to her body fading; he's taking her away from us, please hurry!_

At that he broke into a full run with both bodies and found the entrance closing. Without hesitation he flung both bodies down the pipe, sliding through the muck and slime until he got to the bottom.

Running along the passageway, bones crunching under him he kept both sets of eyes peeled for any sign of Hermione, not even stopping to look at the massive snake skin he passed. Finally he entered a large chamber, the walls and columns covered in jewelled snake motifs, though he had eyes only for the bushy haired figure that was walking towards a massive statue.

"YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" he shouted to the fleeing figure as he willed both bodies to sprint, only wanting to get the bloody thing he could see in her hand away from her. "SHE'S OURS, NOT YOURS!"

"She's mine now," came her voice, stilted and with a hissing high pitched quality to it, not at all her smoother gentle voice. She turned to the statue, raised her hand and hissed; _Speak to me Slytherin greatest of the Hogwarts four!_

The mouth of the statue opened with a grinding of stone on stone and from the hole came a hissing voice with a lust for blood.

"Soon you both will be dead and this girl will be mine," came Riddle/Hermione's hissing voice. "My basilisk will see to that."

Then Ginny spoke in Harry's mind, _Harry, Hermione and I are going to hit the thing in the bond with everything we have, you get that book out of her hands, ready? Now!_

Riddle Hermione visibly spasmed as the mental attack hit, crying out. At the same time Harry made Ginny's body tackle Hermione's to the ground trying to wrench the book from the older girl's death grip. The rest of him was focussing on the massive snake that had slithered out of the hole. Knowing from Ginny's vague memories of comments on various species hide Harry knew that it's skin would be essentially impenetrable. But it's mouth wasn't. Calling on all the might of the bond, he reached a hand to the ceiling and imagined with all his might a vast hand gripping a stalactite and ripping it from the ceiling. He then poured magic into the stone, changing it into steel and sharpening it before hurling it with all his might at the mighty serpent which was rearing up in front of the statue. The massive block of steel whistled through the air with the speed of a F1 car on a straight, ripping straight through the serpents mouth and brain, killing it instantly before slamming into the statue and obliterating it's face.

Inside the bond Ginny and Hermione were engaged in a huge battle of wills with the horcrux in the chamber above. Both girls leapt on it landing punches backed by their magic and love for Harry and each other. They were each thrown back many times but it was never able to concentrate on one at a time, having its attention split between the attack in the physical world and the mental world. It quickly became a test of strength and speed where the girls had the home turf and raw strength but Riddle had a huge experience advantage. They tussled over the ruins of the castle they had built in their bond until finally a break came when Ginny's body under Harry's command wrenched the book from Hermione's rigid fingers and threw it aside. His link to his host degraded the horcrux Riddle was badly weakened and thrown from the bond completely. Both slumped in the ruins on their spheres of the rune and relaxed into a deep sleep there in the bond.

On the outside Harry watched as the snake reeled from the death blow and noticed the diary wrenched from Hermione's grip. With a scream a spectre was thrown from her body back into the book. Harry noticed a shadow growing on him and he flung himself aside as the head of the basilisk crashed to the ground, a fang spearing the horcrux to the floor. Rolling away from the snake he came to rest next to the two girls and exhausted drifted into a deep sleep.


End file.
